
Class 
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CORfRIGHT DEPOSnv 



CONSTITUTIONS and DOCUMENTS 



ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE 



HISTORY OF FRANCE, 1789-1901 



THE 

CONSTITUTIONS 



AND OTHER 



SELECT DOCUMENTS 



ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE 



History of France 

1 789-190 1 



BY 
FRANK MALOY ANDERSON 

Assistant Professor of History in the University of Minnesota 



MINNEAPOLIS 
THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY 



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LIB^«»V «» 0ON6RESS 
TWo OoBi«8 ffweived 

SEP 14 1904 

Cooyrt£ht Entry 
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Copyright, IQ04, by 
Frank Maloy Anderson 



PREFACE 

The practice of studying documents in connection with the 
history courses given in American universities, colleges, and 
high schools has now become so general, and the results at- 
tained so satisfactory, that the method no longer requires any 
defence. With the introduction of the system has come a 
new kind of manual, the document-book. So many excellent 
books of this description have already appeared that the edito-r 
of still another may be reasonably expected to offer an ade- 
quate explanation for its publication. 

Three considerations have induced me to prepare this vol- 
ume. The first of these is personal and local. For several 
years past I have made a practice of dividing my class in 
modern European history into small sections which I could 
meet once each week around the seminary table. At these 
meetings we have studied together a considerable part of the 
documents here included, but the work has been hampered by 
the lack of a convenient collection of the documents. Fidelity 
to the interest of my pupils seemed to impose upon me the 
obligation to remove this difficulty. The second consider- 
ation lies in the attractiveness of the documents. After con- 
siderable experience in the use of various classes of documents 
upon European history I have reached the conclusion that stu- 
dents find the modern French documents more attractive than 
any others. Doubtless the chief reasons for this preference are 
that modern documents are more easily comprehended than 
those of more remote periods and that the style of the French 
is superior to that of English and German documents. Since 
documentary study must usually be confined to a small part 
of the field traversed by a class, I believe that for classes in 
modern European history the preference of the students 
may well be allowed to control the selection of the period to 
be studied. The third consideration is the importance of the 



vi PREFACE 

field covered. The history of France since the beginning of. 
the Revolution surely deserves a volume in English present- 
ing as large a proportion as possible of the important docu- 
ments. 

The task of selectmg the documients for a book of this 
description is a difficult one. It may be safely asserted that 
no two persons would make the same selections, however 
well agreed they might be upon the general principles of 
choice. My first and foremost aim has been to pick out 
those documents likely to be serviceable to teachers. I have 
especially striven to avoid the error of a too rigid application 
of some definition of the term document or of some classi- 
fication. The special reason for the inclusion of most of the 
documents will be found at least hinted at in the introduc- 
tions. The more general principles which I have applied re- 
quire some explanation. There appear to be at least five im- 
portant ways in v/hich a document-book may be profitably 
used in the teaching of history, (i) Much historical data 
can be acquired through such study. It must be admitted, 
however, that the same amount of time spent upon a good 
text-book will in this particular usually produce better re- 
sults, for the reason that the documents studied are so few 
in number and so disconnected that no adequate idea of any 
considerable period is obtained. The defect can be remedied 
in large measure by using a single class of documents running 
through a considerable period. In modern French history 
the constitutions serve the purpose admirably. For this rea- 
son all of these are included and no elisions have beeii made, 
excepting two or three tabular lists of territorial divisions. 
(2) Documents may be used as the basis for oral or written 
reports ; usually the work should be done in connection with 
secondary accounts, but the proofs for the principal state- 
ments should be drawn from the documents. Many-0f~the 
groups, with their accompanying references, are inserted for 
this purpose. It should be observed that these groups usually 
contain the materials out of which the student should be able 
to deduce some quite definite result, such as the evolution of 
a policy or of an institution or the manner in which an in- 
stitution operated. (3) In the opinion of many teachers the 
greatest value to be derived from the study of documents is 
a certain familiarity with the methods of historical investi- 



PREFACE vii 

gation. I believe that a large amount of the documents here 
given present unusually good opportunities for exercises de- 
signed with that intent. (4) The meaning of technical terms 
and the significance of constantly recurring allusions can of- 
ten be more satisfactorily explained in connection with a 
document than by any other method. None of the selections 
have been made principally for this reason, but with quite 
a number it has been an important factor, (5) With many 
instructors the use of original sources in the teaching of his- 
tory is valued chiefly for its vitalizing effect. For this pur- 
pose documents are perhaps less effective than contemporary 
narratives. Yet there are many exceptions. Several of the 
documents not otherwise of the highest worth have been in- 
cluded for their value in this particular. 

Most of the documents in this collection will serve several 
of these purposes, but the superior value of a document for 
but one of these is often the decisive reason for its inclusion. 

The brevity of the introductions has made it necessary 
that I should confine myself to pointing out only a very few 
of the ways in which the documents are of interest. In some 
cases I regret that the plan has not made possible more ex- 
tended comment, but in general I believe that as much has 
been furnished the student as he can profitably receive. He 
needs to be started, but he should not be told all of the 
things to be obtained from the document. In the furnishing 
of data I have tried to supply such information as is indis- 
pensable for the understanding of the document, provided it 
is not to be found in the document itself. The references 
have been purposely confined to a limited number of well 
known works, all of which are in English or in French. By 
this method I believe that all students who use the book may 
be induced to become quite familiar with nearly all of the 
works in English and, if they read any French, with the four 
or five French works cited. To have given more, I fear, 
would have defeated this purpose. 

I am greatly indebted to Mrs. Helen Dresser Fling, to the 
editors of the Annals of the American Academy of Political 
and Social Science, and to the editors of that admirable series 
issued by the history department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources 
of European History, for permission to employ their excellent 



viii PREFACE. 

translations wherever I have had occasion to use a document 
that has already appeared in their publications. In using 
these translations, as Vi^ell as a number of others from non- 
copyrighted sources, I have made separate acknowledgment 
in every instance and have reproduced them exactly as print- 
ed, excepting some slight typographical errors and a few 
changes kindly supplied by Mrs. Fling. In my own trans- 
lations I have striven to be as literal as possible, having a 
decent regard for the idioms of the English language. Prob- 
ably I have been more literal than was absolutely requisite, 
but I have believed that the translator of documents should 
err upon the side of literary form rather than meaning. In 
the matter of paragraphing I have invariably followed the 
form of the document as originally printed in French, even 
when a single sentence is made to run into a dozen para- 
graphs. As to other features of form, such as punctuation 
and capitals, I have been guided by two canons — to treat each 
document separately so as to produce the best result for that 
particular document, and to follow the originals as closely 
as English usage would allow. 

It is a pleasure to acknowledge help received from several 
friends in addition to those already mentioned. Professor 
Willis Mason West, my colleague and chief, has generously 
responded to my frequent appeals for advice. Professor Fred 
Morrow Fling of the University of Nebraska kindly looked 
over the list of materials and made several helpful sugges- 
tions. I am under great obligation to my publishers for per- 
mission to make the volume considerably larger than stipu- 
lated in our agreement. Most of all I am indebted to my 
wife, Mary Steele Anderson. To her constant encourL.gement, 
literary criticisms, and assistance with the manuscript and 
proofs, I owe a large part of whatever value the volume may 
possess. 

Frank Maloy Anderson. 

University of Minnesota, 
April 30, 1904. 



CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

1. Decree Creating the National Assembly. June 

17, 1789 I 

2. The Tennis Court Oath. June 20, 1789. . . 2 

3. Documents upon the Royal Session of June 23, 

1789 3 

A. Declaration of the King upon the States - 

General. ...... 3 

B. Declaration of the Intentions of the King. 5 
C Decree of the Assembly. . . . . 10 

4. The Fourth of August Decrees. August 11, 1789. 11 

5. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen 15 

6. Documents upon the Constituent Assembly and 

the Church. ....... 15 

A. Decree upon the Church Lands. November 

2, 1789 15 

B. Decree upon Monastic Vows. February 13, 

/1789. 16 

C. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. July 

12, 1790 16 

D. Decree upon the Clerical Oath. November 

27, 1790 22 

E. Decree upon the Publication of Papal Docu- 

ments. June 9, 1791. .... 23 

7. Decrees for Reorganizing the Local Government 

System. 24 

A. Decree upon the Municipalities. December 

14, 1789 24 

■ B. Decree upon the Departments and Districts. 

December 22, 1789 29 

8. Decree for Abolishing the Nobility. June 19, 1790. 34 

9. Decree for Reorganizing the Judicial System. 

August 16, 1790. 34 

10. Circular Letter of Louis XVI to Foreign Courts. 

April 23, 1791 39 



CONTENTS 



12. 



NUMBER 

II. Decree for Abolishing the Industrial Corporations 

June 14, 1791. 

Documents upon the King's Flight. 

A. The King's Declaration. June 20, 1791. 

Decree for the Maintenance of Public Order 

June 21, 1791 

First Decree for Giving Effect to the Meas 

ures of the Assembly. June 21, 1791. 
Second Decree for Giving Effect to the Meas 
ures of the Assembly. June 22, 1791. 

E. Decree upon the Oath of Allegiance. June 
22, 1791 

F. Decree concerning the King. June 25, 1791 

G. The Protest of the Right. June 29, 1791. 
H. Decree concerning the King. July 16, 1791 
The Padua Circular. July 5 or 6, 1791. 
The Declaration of Pilnitz. August 27, 1791. 
The Constitution of 1791. September 3, 1791. 
The King's Acceptance of the Constitution. Sep 

tember 13, 1791. ..... 

The Rejected Decrees. .... 

A. Decree upon the Emigres. November 9, 1791 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Clergy. Novem- 
ber 29, 1791. ..... 

Letter of Louis XVI to the King of Prussia. De 
cember 3, 1791. ..... 

Declaration of War against Austria. April 20 
1792. 

The Three Revolutlonan^ Decrees. 



13. 

14. 

IS- 
16. 

17. 



19. 



20 



21. 
22. 



B. 



D. 



A 



B. 



C. 



Decree for the Deportation of the Non-juring 

Priests. May 27, 1792. 
Decree for Disbanding the King's Body 

Guard. May 29, 1792 

Decree for Establishing a Camp of Federes 

June 8, 1792 

The Petition of the 20th of June. June 20, 1792 
Addresses to the Legislative Assembly. 

A. Address of the Commune of Marseilles. Jun^ 

27, 1792 

B. Address of the Federes at Paris. July 23,1792 



43 
45 

45 

51 
51 

52 

52 
53 
53 
54 
54 
57 
58 

96 
97 

97 

99 



103 
104 

104 

106 

106 
107 
no 

no 
113 



CONTENTS xi 

NUMBER PAGE 

C. Address of the Paris Sections. August 3, 1792. 114 

23. The Duke of Brunswick's Manifesto. July 25, 

1792 118 

24. Decree for Suspending Louis XVI. August 10, 

1792. 122 

25. Decree for Electing the Convention. August 

II, 1792 124 

26. The Jacohin Club Address. September 12, 1792. 126 

27. Documents upon the Transition to the Republic. 128 

A. Declaration upon the Constitution, Septem- 

ber 21, 1792 128 

B. Decree for Abolishing the Monarchy. Sep- 

tember 21, 1792. . . . . . 128 

C. Decree for Provisional Enforcemient of the 

Laws. September 21, 1792. . . . 129 

D. Decree upon the Dating of Public Documents. 

September 22, 1792. ..... 129 

E. Decree upon the Unity and Indivisibility of 

the Republic. September 25, 1792. . . 129 

28. Documents upon the Convention and Foreign Pol- 

icy. . . . . . . . 129 

A. Declaration for Assistance and Fraternity to 

Foreign Peoples. November 19, 1792. . 129 

B. Decree for Proclaiming the Liberty and Sov- 

ereignty of all Peoples. December 15, 1792. 130 

C. Decree upon NonTntervention. April 13, 1793. 133 

29. Documents upon the Convention and Religion. 133 

A. Declaration upon Religious Policy. January 

II, 1793 134 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Priests. April 

23, 1793 134 

C. Decree upon Dangerous Priests. October 20- 

21, 1793 135 

D. Decree upon Religious Freedom. December 

8, 1793 136 

E. Decree for Establishing the Worship of the 

Supreme Being. May 7, 1794. . . . 137 

F. Decree upon Expenditures for Religion. Sep- 

tember 18. 17^4. 138 

G. Decree upon Religion. February 21, 1795. . 139 



CONTENTS 



NUMBER 
H. 



30. 



31- 



Z2. 



34- 
35. 

36. 

37. 



39- 
40. 
41. 
42. 
43- 

44. 
45. 



Church Buildings 
September 29, 



January 



Decree for Restoring 
May 30, 1795. 
I. Organic Act upon Religion. 

1795 

Documents upon the fimigres. 

A. Declaration of the Regent of France 

28, 1793 

B. Decree against the Emigres. March 28, 1793 
Declaration of War against Great Britain. Feb- 
ruary I, 1793. ... . . 

Documents upon the Revolutionary Tribunal o 
Paris. ....... 

A. Decree for Creating an Extraordinary Crim- 

inal Tribunal. March 10, 1793. 

B. Law of 22 Prairial. June 10, 1794. 

Law for Establishing the Revolutionary Commit 
tees. March 21, 1793. 

Decree upon the Press. March 29, 1793 

Decree for Establishing the Committee of Pub- 
lic Safety. April 6, 1793 

Robespierre's Proposed Declaration of Rights 
April 24, 1793 , 

Decree upon the Deputies on Mission. April 30 
1793. ■ ' 

Documents upon 



A. Decree upon 



the Convention and Education, 
Primary Education. May 30 



1793. 



B 



C 



Decree upon Secondary Education, February 

25, 1795 

Organic Act upon Education. October 25, 1795 
Constitution of the Year I. June 24, 1793. 
Decree for the Levy en Masse. August 23, 1793 
The Law of Suspects. September 17, 1793. 
Law of the Maximum. September 29, 1793. 
Decree upon the Revolutionary Government. Oc 

tober 10, 1793. 

Decree for the Republican -Calendar. Novem 

ber 24, 1793 

Organic Decree upon the Government of the Ter 

ror. December 4, 1793. .... 



139 

140 
144 

145 
147 

14^ 
151 

151 
154 

157 
158 

159 

160 

164 
167 

167 

168 
169 
170 
183 
185 
187 

189 

191 

194. 



CONTENTS 



46. Decree upon Slavery. February 4, 1794. 

47. Decree upon Assignats. May 10, 1794. 

48. Treaties with Prussia. 

A. Treaty of Basle. April 5, 1795. 

B. Secret Convention. August 5, 1796. 

49. Treaty of the Hague. May 16, 1795. 

50. Constitution of the Year III. August 22, 1795. 

51. Law against Public Enemies. April 16, 1796. 

52. Treaties with the Pope. .... 

A. Suspension of Hostilities. June 2.2^, 1796. 

B. Treaty of Tolentino. February 19, 1797. 
<,Z' Law upon British Products. October 31, 1796. 

54. Secret Convention with Genoa. June 6, 1797. 

55. Treaty of Campo Formio. October 27, 1797. 

56. Law of Hostages. July 12, 1799. 

57. The Brumaire Decree. November 10, 1799. 

58. Constitution of the Year VHL December 13 

1799. 

__59. Order for Suppressing the Newspapers. January 

17, 1800 

60. Law for Reorganizing the Administrative System 

February 17, 1800 

~"6i. Law for Reorganizing the Judicial System. March 

18, 1800. 

62. Treaty of Luneville. February 9, 1801. 

63. Treaty of Amiens. March 27, 1802. 

64. Documents upon Napoleon and the Reorganiza 

tion of Religion. ..... 

A. The Concordat. September 10, 1801 — April 

8, 1802 

B. Organic Articles for the Catholic Church 

April 8, 1802 

C. The Declaration of 1682. 

D. Organic Articles for the Protestant Sects 

April 8, 1802 

65. Documents upon Napoleon and Education. 

A. Law upon Public Instruction. May i, 1802 

B. Imperial Catechism. April 4, 1807. . 

C. Decree for Organizing the Imperial Univer 

sity. March 17, 1808. . . . 



PAGE 
204 
204 
206 
206 
208 
209 
212 

255 
257 
258 

259 

261 
267 
260 

27\) 

282 

283 

288 
290 

294 

296 
296 
299 

308^ 
308 

3I3l_ 
314 



CONTENTS 



NUMBER 

66. Documents upon the Consulate for Life. 

A. Declaration of the Tribunate. May 6, 1802 

B. Re-election by the Senate. May 6, 1802. 

C. Message of the First Consul to the Senate 

May 9, 1802 

D. Order of the Consuls. May 10, 1802. .' 

E. Senatus-Consultum. August 4, 1802. . 
^7. Law for Organizing the Legion of Honor. (Con 

stitution of the Year X.) May 19, 1802. 
€8. Law for Re-establishmg Slavery in the French 
Colonies. May 20, 1802. 

69. Declaration of France upon the Reorganization 

of Germany. August 18, 1802. 

70. Treaty with Spain. October 19, 1803. 

71. Senatus-Consultum. (Constitution of the Year 

XIL) May 18, 1804 

'J2. Documents upon the Kingdom of Italy. 

A. Constitutional Statute. March 17, 1805. 

B. Proclamation of the Kingdom. March 19 

1805 

'j'i. Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and 
Russia. April 11, 1805 

74. Treaty of Pressburg. December 26, 1805. . 

75. Documents upon the Kingdom of Naples. . 
A." Proclamation to the Army. December 30 

1805. 

B. Imperial Decree Making Joseph Bonaparte 

King of Naples. March 30, 1806. 

j^). Treaty between France and Holland. May 24 

1806. 

'jj. Documents upon the Continental System. . 

A. British Note to the Neutral Powers. May 

16, 1806 

B. The Berlin Decree. November 21, 1806. 

C. British Order in Council. January 10, 1807, 

D. British Order in Council. November 11, 1807 

E. The Milan Decree. December 17, 1807. 
-¥. British Order in Council. April 26, 1809. 

G. The Rambouillet Decree. March 23, 1810. 



PAGE 

324 
324 

325 
326 
ZV 

336 

339 

339 
342 

343 
368 
368 

369 

Z7^ 
375 
378 

379 
380 

381 
384 

384 
385 
387 
389 
393 
394 
396 



CONTENTS XV 

NUMBER PAGE 

78. Documents upon the Confederation of the Rhine. 397 
A;, Treaty for Establishing the Confederation. 

July 12, 1806 398 

B. Note of Napoleon to the Diet. August i, 1806. 399 

C. Declaration of the Confederated States. Aug- 

ust I, 1806 401 

D. Abdication of Francis II. August 7, 1806. . 403 

79. Documents upon the Peace of Tilsit. . . 405 

A. Treaty of Peace between France and Russia. 

July 7, 1807 405 

B. Secret Treaty of Alliance between France and 

Russia. July 7, 1807. . . . . 409 

C. Treaty of Peace between France and Prussia. 

July 9, 1807 411 

D. Treaty between France and Prussia. Sep- 

tember 8, 1808. . . . ■ . . . 415 

80. Senatus-Consultum for Suppressing the Tribun- 

ate. August 19, 1807 417 

81. Documents upon the Overthrow of the Spanish 

Monarchy. 418 

A. Convention of Fontainebleau. October 27, 

1807. 418 

B. Convention with Charles IV. May 5, 1808. 420 

C. Imperial Decree Proclaiming Joseph Bona- 

parte King of Spain. June 6, 1808. . . 421 

82. The Erfurt Convention. October 12, 1808. . 421 

83. Decree upon the Term French Republic. Octob.-;r 

22, 1808. 424 

84. Documents upon the Annexations of 1809-1810. 425 

A. Imperial Decree for the Annexation of the 

Papal States. May 17, 1809. . . . 425 

B. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annex- 

ation of the Papal States. February 17, 1810. 426 

C. Treaty with Holland. March 16, 1810. . 428 

D. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annex- 

ation of Holland and North Germany. De- 
cember 13, i8to. ..... 430 

85. Treaty of Vienna. October 14, 1809. . . 430 
"86. Decree upon Printing and Bookselling. Febru- 
ary 5, 1810. 433 



xvi CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

87. The Frankfort Declaration. December i, 1813. 436 

88. Address of the Corps-Legislatif to Napoleon. De- 

cember 28, 1813. 437 

89. Treaty of Chaumont. March i, 1814. . . 440 

90. Documents upon the Transition to the Restor- 

ation Monarchy. 443 

A. Proclamation of the Allies. March 31, 1814. 443 

B. Act of the Senate. April i, 1814. . . 444 

C. Decree for Deposing Napoleon. April 3-4, 

1814. 444 

D. First Abdication of Napoleon. April 4, 1814. 446 

E. The Senate's Proposed Constitution. April 

6, 1814. ■ . 446 

F. Second Abdication of Napoleon. April 11, 

1814 449 

G. Treaty of Fontainebleau. April 11, 1814. . 450 

91. Treaty of Paris. May 30, 1814. . . . 451 

92. Declaration of St. Ouen. May 2, 1814. . . 455 

93. Constitutional Charter of 1814. June 4, 1814. . 456 

94. Proclamation of Napoleon. March i, 1815. . 464 

95. Decree for Convoking an Extraordinary Assembly. 

March 13, 1815 466 

96. Declaration of the Powers against Napoleon. 

March 13, 181 5 468 

07. Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon. March 25, 

1815. 469 

98. The Act Additional. April 22, 1815. . . 471 

99. Treaty of Paris. November 20, 1815. . . 479 

100. Treaty of Alliance against France. November 

20, 1815. 482 

loi. Press Laws and Ordinances of the Restoration. 485 

A. Law upon the Press. June 9, 1819. . . 485 

B. Law upon the Press. March 31, 1820. . , 486 

C. Law upon the Press. March 17, 1822. . 488 

D. Royal Ordinance upon the Press. June 24, 

1827 489 

102. Circular of the Keeper of the Seals. About Feb- 
ruary I, 1824. ....... 489 



CONTENTS xvii 

NUMBER PAGE 

103. Documents upon the Dissolution of 1830. . 491 

A. Speech of King Charles X. March 2, 1830. 491 

B. Reply of the Chamber of Deputies. March 

18, 1830 492 

C. Response of the King. March 18, 1830. . 493 

D. The Royal Proclamation. June 13, 1830. . 494 

104. Documents upon the July Revolution. . . 495 

A. The July Ordinances. July 25, 1830. . . 495 

B. Protest of the Paris Journalists. July 26, 1830. 501 

C. Protest of the Paris Deputies. July 27, 1830. 501 

D. Thiers' Orleanist Manifesto. July 30, 1830. 502 

E. Proclamation of the Deputies. July 31, 1830. 502 

F. Proclamation by Louis Philippe. August i, 

1830. 504 

G. Abdication of Charles X. August 2, 1830. 504 
H. Declaration of the Chamber of Deputies. 

August 7, 1830. . . . . . .505 

105. Constitution of 1830. 507 

106. Law upon Elections. April 19, 1831. . . 513 

107. Proclamations and Decrees of the Provisional 
Government of 1848, . . . . . 514 

A. Proclamation of the Overthrow of the July 

Monarchy. February 24, 1848. . . 515 

B. Declaration Relative to Workingmen. Feb- 

ruary 25,, 1848 516 

C. Proclamation of the Republic. February 26, 

1848. . . 516 

D. Decree for Establishing National Workshops. 

February 26, 1848. . . . . . 517 

E. Proclamation and Order for the Luxembourg 

Commission. February 26, 1848. . . 517 

F. Decree for Abolishing Titles of Nobility. 

February 29, 1848 518 

G. Decree upon Labor. March 2, 1848. . . 518 
H. Decree for the National Assembly. March 5, 

1848 519 

L Decree upon Slavery. April 27, 1848. . 520 

108. Petition of the i6th of April. April 16, 1848. 521 

109. Declaration upon the Republic. May 4, 1848. . 522 
no. Constitution of 1848. 522 



xviii CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

111. Documents upon the Coup d'Etat of December 

2, 185I ■ 538 

A. Decree for Dissolving the National Assembly. 

December 2, 1851. ..... 538 

B. Proclamation to the People. December 2, 1851. 538 

C. Proclamation to the Army. December 2, 1851. 541 

D. First Decree for the Plebiscite. December 

2, 1851. 542 

E. Second Decree for the Plebiscite. December 

4, 1851 542 

F. Election Appeal. December 8, 1851. . . 543 

112. Constitution of 1852. January 14, 1852. . . 544 

113. Organic Decree upon the Press. February 17, 

1852 550 

114. Documents upon the Evolution of the Empire. 553 

A. Speech of the Prince-President to the Cham- - 

bers. March 29, 1852. .... 553 

B. Address of the Municipality of Vedennes to ' 

Louis-Napoleon. October, 1852. . . ' 556 

C. The Bordeaux Address. October 9, 1852. . 557 

D. Senatus-Consultum upon the Empire. No- 

vember 7, 1852 559 

115. Documents upon the Congress of Paris. . 560 

A. Treaty of Paris. March 30, 1856. . . 561 

B. The Dardanelles Convention. March 26, 1856. 564 

C. Declaration Respecting Maritime Power. April 

16, 1856. . . . • . . . . 565 

116. Documents upon the War in Italy. . . . 566 

A. The Austrian Ultimatum. April 19, 1856. . 566 

B. Reply of Sardinia. April 26, 1859. . ' . 568 

C. Proclamation of Napoleon III. May 3, 1859. 568 

D. Proclamation to the Italians. June 8, 1859. 570 

E. Armistice of Villafranca. July 11, 1859. . 571 

F. Treaty of Zurich. November 10, 1859. . 572 

G. Treaty of Turin. March 24, i860. . . 573 

117. Documents upon the Evolution of the Liberal 
Empire. ........ 574 

A. Imperial Decree upon the Address to the 

Throne. November 24, 1860. , . . 574 



CONTENTS 



B. Senatus-Consultum upon the Publication of 

Debates. February 2, 1861. ... 575 

C. Senatus-Consultum upon the Budget. De- 

cember 31, 1861. 576 

D. Senatus-Consultum upon Amendments to the 

Constitution. July 18, 1866. . . . 577 

E. Imperial Decree upon Interpellation. Jan- 

uary 19, 1867 578 

F. Senatus-Consultum upon the Powers of the 

Senate. March 14, 1867 579 

G. Senatus-Consultum. September 8, 1869. . 579 
H. Senatus-Consultum. May 21, 1870. . . 581 

T18. The Persigny Circular. May 8, 1863. . . 586 

119. Law upon Public Meetings. June 6, 1868. . 589 

120. The Proposed Benedetti Treaty. August 20, 1866. 591 

121. The Ems Despatch. July 13, 1870. . . . 593 

122. Documents upon the Fourth of September. . 595 

A. Proclamation to the French People. Sep- 

tember 4, 1870. . . . . . 595 

B. Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Paris. 

September 4, 1870 595 

C. Decree upon the Corps-Legislatif and the 

Senate. September 4, 1870. . . . 596 

D. Decree upon Political and Press Offenders. 

September 4, 1870 596 

123. Diplomatic Circulars upon the Franco-Prussian 

War 596 

A. Circular to French Ministers. Septem- 

ber 7, 1870. 596 

B. Circular to Prussian Ministers. September 

13, 1870 599 

C. Circular to Prussian Ministers. September 

16, 1870. . . . . . . . 601 

124. Decrees and Laws upon the Executive Power, 

1871-1873. ....... 603 

A. Decree Appointing Thiers. February 17, 1871. 604 

B. The Rivet Law. August 31, 1871. . . 604 

C. Law upon the Presidency. March 13, 1873. 606 

125. Preliminary Treaty of Versailles. February 26, 

1871. 607 



XX CONTENTS 

NUMBER PAGE 

126. Declaration of the Paris Commune. April iq, 

1871. 608 

127. Laws for Reorganizing Local Government . 612 

A. Communal Law. April 14, 1871. . . 612 

B. Departmental Law. August 10, 1871. . 61.3 

128. Law for Reorganizing the Army. July 2^], 1872. 618 

129. Documents upon the Overthrow of Thiers. , 622 

A. The De Broglie Interpellation. May 19, 187^^. 622 

B. The Government Proposals. May 19, 1873. 623 

C. The Ernoul Order of the Day. May 24, 1873. 627 

D. The Target Declaration. May 24, 1873. . ^2^ 

E. Manifesto of the Extreme Left. May 24, 1873. 627 

130. The White Flag .Letter. September 23, 1873 627 

131. Law of the Septennate. November 20, 1873. . 630 

132. Documents upon the Establishment of the Re- 
public. ........ 631 

A. The Casimir-Perier Proposal. June 15. 1874 631 

B. Th'e Ventavon Project. July 15, 1874. . • 631 

C. The Proposed Laboulaye Amendment. Jan- 

uary 28, 1875. 632 

D. The Wallon Amendment. January 29-30, 1875. 632 

133. The Constitutional Laws and Amendments. . 633 

A. Law upon the Organization of the Senate. 

February 24, 1875 633 

B. Constitutional Lavv' upon the Organization of 

the Public Powers. February 25, 1875. . 635 

C. Constitutional Law upon the Relation of the 

PubHc Powers. July 16, 1875. . 6z(^ 

D. Amendment upon the Seat of Government. 

June 21, 1879 639 

E. The Amendments of 1884. August 14, 1884. 639 

134. Documents upon the i6th of May Crisis. . 640 

A. Letter ot MacMahon to Simon. May 16, 1877. 640 

B. Letter of Simon to MacMahon. May 16, 1877. 641 

C. Order of the Day. May 17, 1877. . . 642 

D. Manifesto of the Left. About May 20. 1877 642 

E. MacMahon's First Manifesto. Sept. 19, 1877 643 

F. Gambetta's Circular. October 7. 1877. - . 645 



CONTENTS xxi 

NUMBER PAGE 

G. MacMahon's Second Manifesto. October ii, 

1877 647 

H. MacMahon's Message. December 14, 1877. 648 

135. General Program of the Socialist Regional Con- 
gress of the Centre. ..... 649 

136. Documents upon the Papacy and the Third Re- 
public. ........ 652 

A. Papal Encyclical. February 16, 1892. . . 652 

B. Papal Brief to the French Cardinals. May 5, 

1892 654 

137. The Law of Associations. July i, 1901. . . 657 



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Constitutions and Documents 

Illustrative of the 

History of France 



1. Decree Creating the National Assembly. 

June 17, 1789. Duvorgier, Lois, I, 23. 

The States-General met May 5, 17S9. It contained approxi- 
irately twelve hunclred members — three hundred nobles, three hun- 
dred clergy, six hundred deputies of the Third Estate. As Louis 
>vYI had failed to provide regulations respecting its organization 
and method of voting, a controvei'sy immediately dereloped over 
these questions. The nobles and" clergy dosii-ed separate organi- 
zation and vote by order ; the Third Estate demanded a single or- 
ganiz3.tion and vote by head. This decree was Anally adopted by 
the Third Estate alone, after an invitation to the other tw^o orders 
had met with no general ]'esponse. The document indicates the 
method by which the Third Estate proposed to proceed, the argu- 
ments by which the method was justified, and the general temper 
which characterized the proceedings. 

Eefehejs'ces. Mathews, French Revohition^ 119-120 ; Gardiner, 
French Revolution, 37-39 ; Stephens, French Revolution, I, 58-61 ; 
Yon Sybel, French RevoVation, I. 54-6-5 ; Aulard, Revolution Fran- 
CGise, 32-34 ; I^avisse and Rambaud, Hisioire Generule, VIII, 56- 



Tlie Assembly, deliberating after the verification of the 
powers, recognizes that this assembly is already composed of 
the representatives sent directly by at least ninety-six per cent 
of the nation. 

Such a body of deputies cannot remain inactive owing to 
tlie absence of the deputies of som.e bailliages and some classes 
of citizens ; for the absdatees, who have been summoned, can- 
I 



2 THE TENNIS COURT OATH 

not prevent those present from exercising the full extent of 
their rights, especially when the exercise of these rights is an 
imperious and pressing duty. 

Furthermore, since it belongs only to the verified represent- 
atives to participate in the formation of the national opinion, 
and since all the verified representatives ought to be in this 
assembly, it is still more indispensable to conclude that the in- 
terpretation and presentation of the general will of the 
nation belong to it, and belong to it alone, and that 
there cannot exist between the throne and this as- 
sembly any veto, any negative power, — The Assembly declares 
then that the common task of the national restoration can and 
ought to be commenced without delay by the deputies present 
and that they ought to pursue it without interruption as well 
as without hindrance. — The denomination of National As- 
sembly is the only one which is suitable for the Assembly in 
the present condition of things ; because the members who com- 
pose it are the only representatives lawfully and publicly 
known and verified ; because they are sent directly by almost 
the totality of the nation; because, lastly, the representation 
being one and indivisible, none of the deputies, in whatever class 
or order he may be chosen, has the right to exercise his func- 
tions apart from the present' assembly, — The Assembly will 
never lose the hope of uniting within its own body all the de- 
puties absent today; it will not cease to summon them to ful- 
fil the obligation laid upon them to participate in the holding of 
the States-General. At any moment when the absent depu- 
ties present themselves in the course of the session which is 
about to open, it declares in advance that it will hasten to re- 
ceive them and , to share with them, after the verification of 
their powers, the results of the great labors which are bound 
to procure the regeneration of France. — The National Assem- 
bly orders that the motives of the present decision be immedi- 
ately drawn up in order to be presented to the King and the 
nation. 

2. Ths Tennis Court Oath. 

June 20, 1780. Dnvergier, Lois, I, 24. 

When the deputies of the Third Estate went to their hall on 



THE ROYAL SESSION 3 

June 20, 1789, they found it closed to them and placards posted 
announcing a royal session two days later. Fearing that this 
foreshadowed a command from the King for separate organization 
and vote by order, they met in a neighboring tennis court and 
with practical unanimity formulated the resolution embodied in 
tliis document. 

References. James Harvey Robinson, Political Science Quar- 
terly, X, 460-474 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 65-66. 

The National Assembly, considering that it has been sum- 
moned to determine the Constitution of the kingdom, to effect 
the regeneration of public order, to maintain tlie true prin- 
ciples of the monarchy ; that nothing can prevent it from con- 
tinuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to 
establish itself, and lastly, that wherever its members meet to- 
gether, there is the National Assembly, 

Decrees that all the members of this Assembly shall im- 
mediately take a solemn oath never to separate, and to re- 
assemble wherever circumstances shall require, until the Con- 
stitution of the kingdom shall be established and consolidated 
upon firm foundations; and that, the said oath being taken, all 
the members and each of them individually shall ratify by their 
signatures this stedfast resolution. 



3. Documents upon the Rcyal Session of June 23, 1789. 

These documents show the parts played by the King and the 
Third Estate at the royal session of June 23, 1789. Document A 
is a com.mand, although expressed ,as a wish. Document B has 
a special interest, since it indicates approximately how far Louis 
XVI was ready to go in the way of reform. Mirabeau's famous 
defiance of the royal usher was an important factor in nerving the 
Third Estate to take the action embodied in document C. 

References. Flint's Source Studies . . . The Royal 
Session contains other interesting documents, bearing upon this 
event. See also Mathews, French Revolution, 121-124 ; Stephens. 
French Revolution, I, 62-63 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 66- 
09. 

A. Declaration of the King upon the States-General. 
June 23, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 24-25. Translation, Mrs. 
Fred M. Fling, Fling's Source Studies, The Royal Sessioit, 
46-49. • 

I. The King wishes that the ancient distinction of the 



4 THE ROYAL SESSION 

three Orders of the State be preserved m its entirety, as 
essentially linked to the constitution of his Kingdom; that 
the deputies, freely elected by each of the three Orders, form- 
ing three chambers, deliberating by Order, and being able, with 
the approval of the Sovereign, to agree to deliberate in com- 
mon, can alone be considered as forming the body of the 
representatives of the Nation. As a result, the King has de- 
clared null the resolutions passed by the deputies of the Order 
of the Third Estate, the 17th of this month, as well as those 
which have followed them, as illegal and unconstitutional. • 

2. His Majesty declares valid all the credentials verified 
or to be verified in each chamber, upon which there has not 
been raised nor will be raised any contest; His Majesty or- 
ders that these shall be communicated by each Order respect- 
ively to the other two Orders. 

As for the credentials which might be contested in each 
Order, and upon which the parties interested would appeal, 
it will be enacted, for the present session only of the States- 
General, as will be hereafter f rdered. 

7. His Majesty having exhorted the three Orders, for the 
safety of the State, to unite themselves during this session of 
Estates only, to deliberate in common upon the affairs of gen- 
eral utility, wishes to make his intentions known upon the 
manner of procedure. 

8. There will be particularly excepted from the affairs 
which can be treated in common, (i) those that concern the 
ancient and constitutional rights of the three Orders , (2) the 
form of constitution to give the next States-General, (3) the 
feudal and seignioral rights, (4) the useful rights and hon- 
orary prerogatives of the two first Orders. 

The especial consent of the Clergy vv-ill be necessary for all 
provisions which could interest religion, ecclesiastical discipline^ 
the regime of the Orders' and secular and regular bodies. 

II. If, with the view of facilitating the reunion of the 
three Orders, they desired that the propositions that shall have 
been considered in common, should pass only by a majority of 



THE ROYAL SESSION 5 

two-thirds of the votes, His Majesty is disposed to authorise 
this form. 

15. Good order, decency, and liberty of the ballot even, 
require that His Majesty prohibit, as he expressly does, that 
any person, other than the members of the three orders Com- 
prising the States-General, should be present at their deliber- 
ations, whether they deliberate in common or separately. 

B. Declaration of the Intentions of the King. June 2^, 
1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, 26-28. Translation, Mrs. Fred M. 
Fling, Fling's Source Studies, The Royal Session, 50-57. 

1. No new impost shall be established, no old one shall 
be continued beyond the term fixed by the laws, without 
the consent of the Representatives of the Nation. 

2. The new impositions which will be established, or the 
old ones which will be continued, shall hold only for the in- 
terval which will elapse until the time of the following ses- 
sion of the States-General. 

3. As the borrowing of money might lead to an increase 
of taxes, no money shall be borrowed without the consent 
of the States-General, under the condition, however, that in 
case of war, or other national danger, the Sovereign shall have 
the right to borrow without delay, to the amount of one 
hundred millions; for it is the formal intention of the King 
never to make the safety of his Empire dependent upon any 
person. 

4. The States- General shall examine with care the sit- 
uation of the finances, and they shall demand all the infor- 
mation necessary to enlighten them perfectly. 

5. The statement of receipts and expenses shall be made 
public each year, in a form proposed by the States- General and 
approved by His Majesty. 

6. The sums attributed to each department, shall be de- 
termined in a fixed and invariable manner, and the King sub- 
mits to this general rule even the funds that are destined for 
the maintenance of his household. 

7. The King wishes, in order to assure this fixity of the 
different expenses of the State, that provisions suitable to 
accomplish this object be suggested to him by the States- 



[ 



6 THE ROYAL SESSION 

General; and His Majesty will adopt them, if they are in 
accordance with the Royal dignity and the indispensable 
celerity of the public service. 

8. The representatives of a nation faithful to the laws 
of honor and probity, will make no attack upon the public 
credit, and the King expects from them that the confidence 
of the creditors of the State be assured and secured in the 
most authentic manner. 

9. When the formal dispositions announced by the Clergy 
and the Nobility, to renounce their pecuniary privileges, will 
have become a reality by their deliberations, it is the intention 
of the King to sanction them, and there will no longer exist 
any kind of privileges or distinctions in the payment of the 
taxes. 

10. The King wishes that, to consecrate a disposition so 
important, the name of Taille be abolished in the Kingdom, 
and that this impost be joined either to the vingtiemes, or 
to any other territorial impost, or finally that it be replaced 
in some way, but always in just and equal proportions and 
without distinction of estate, rank and birth. 

11. The King wishes that the tax of franc-fief be abolished 
from the time when the revenues and fixed expenses of the 
State will have been put in an exact balance. 

12. All property rights, without exception, will be con- 
stantly respected, and His Majesty expressly understands un- 
der the name of property rights, tithes, rents, annuities (rentes), 
feudal and seignioral rights and duties, and, in general, all 
the rig-hts and prerogatives useful or honorary, attached to 
lands and fiefs or pertaining to persons. 

13. The first two orders of the state will continue to 
enjoy exemptions from personal burdens, but the King would 
be pleased to have the States-General consider means of con- 
verting this kind of charges into pecuniary contributions and 
that then all the orders of the state might be subjected equally 
to them. 

14. It is the intention of His Majesty to determine, in ac- 
■ cord with the States-General, what the employments and duties 

will be which will preserve in the future the privilege of giv- 
ing and transmitting nobility. His Majesty, nevertheless, ac- 
cording to the inherent right of his crown, will grant titles 



THE ROYAL SESSION 7 

of nobility to those of his subjects, who by services rendered 
to the King or to the State shall show themselves worthy of 
this recompense, 

15. The King, desiring to assure the personal liberty of 
all citizens in the most solid and durable manner, invites 
the States-General to seek for and to propose to him the means 
that may be the most fitting to conciliate the orders known 
under the name of Letters de Cachet, with the maintenance 
of public severity [jzc— security] and with the precautions 
necessary in some cases to guard the honor of families, to 
repress with celerity the beginning of sedition or to guarantee 
the state from the effects of criminal negotiations with for- 
eign powers. 

16. The States-General will examine and make known to 
His Majesty, the means most fitting to reconcile the liberty 
of the press with the respect due to religion, custom, and the 
honor of the citizens. 

17. There will be established in the different provinces 
or generalities of the kingdom, Provincial-Estates composed 
thus : two-tenths of the members of the clergy, a part of 
whom will necessarily be chosen in the Episcopal Order ; 
three-tenths of members of the Nobility, and five-tenths 01 
members of the Third Estate. 

t8. The members of these Provincial-Estates will be freely 
elected by the respective Orders, and a certain amount of prop- 
erty will be necessary to be an elector or eligible. 

19. The deputies to these Provincial-Estates will delib- 
erate in common upon all affairs, following the usage observed 
in the Provincial Assemblies, which these estates will replace. 

20. An intermediary commission, chosen by these estates, 
will administer the affairs of the province, during the interval 
from one session to another, and these intermediary com- 
missions becoming alone responsible for their conduct, will 
have for delegates persons chosen wholly by them or the Pro- 
vincial-Estates. 

21. The States-General will propose to the King their 
views upon all the other parts of interior organization of 
the Provincial-Estates, and upon the choice of forms appli- 
cable to the election of the members of this assembly. 

22. Independently of the objects of administration with 
which the Provincial Assemblies are charged, the King will 



J 



8 THE ROYAL SESSION 

confide to the Provincial-Estates the administration of the 
hospitals, prisons, poor-houses, foundling homes, the inspection 
of the expenses of the cities, the surveillance over the main- 
tenance of the forests, the protection and sale of the wood, and 
over other objects which couhi be more usefully administered 
by the provinces. 

23. The disputes occurring in the provinces where ancient 
estates exist, and the protests that have arisen against the 
constitution of the arsemblies, ought to claim the attention- of 
the States-General ; they will make known to His Majesty the 
dispositions of justice and wisdom that it is suitable to adopt 
to establish a fixed order in the administration of these same 
provinces. 

24. The King invites the States-General to occupy them- 
selves in the quest of the proper means to turn to account 
the most advantageously the domains which are in his hands, 
and to propose to him equally their views upon what can be 
done the most conveniently with the domains that have been 
leased. 

25. The States-General Vvill consider the project conceived 
a long time ago by His Majesty, of transferring the collection 
of tariffs to the frontiers of the kingdom, in order that the 
most perfect liberty may reign in the internal circulation of 
national or foreign merchandise. 

26. His Majesty desires that the unfortunate effects of the 
impost upon salt and the importance of this revenue be care- 
fully discussed, and that in all the substitutions, means of 
lightening the collection may at least be proposed. 

27. His Majesty wishes also that the advantages and in- 
conveniences of the internal revenue tax on liquors and other 
imposts be examined attentively, but without lo.sing sight of the 
absolute necessity of assuring an exact balance between the 
revenues and expenses of the state. 

28. According to the u-ish that the King manifested by 
his declaration of the 23rd of last September, His Majesty 
will examine with serious attention the plans which may be 
presented to him, relative to the administration of justice, 
and to the means of perfecting the civil and criminal laws. 

2y. The King wishes that the laws that he will have pro- 
mulgated during the session and after the advice or accord- 



THE KOYAL SESSION g 

ing to the wish of the States-General, may experience in their 
registration and execution no delay nor any obstacle in all 
the extent of his kingdom. 

30. His Majesty wishes that the use of the corvee for 
the making and maintenance of the roads, be entirely and 
forever aboHshed in his kingdom. 

31. The King desires that the abolition o f the r ight of 
main morte, of which His Majesty nas given the example 
in hir~domains, be extended to all France, and that means 
be proposed to him for providing the indemnity which v/ould 
be due the lords in possession of this right. 

2,2. His Majesty will make known at once to the States- 
General the regulations with which he occupies himself for 
the purpose of restricting the capitaincries, to give, further- 
more, in this connection, which touches the most nearly his 
own pleasures, a nev/ proof of his love for his people. 

2)2,. The King invites the States-General to consider ths 
drawing for the militia in all its aspects and to study the 
means of reconciling what is due to the defence of the stale, 
with the extenuations that His Majesty desires to procure 
for his subjects. 

34. The King wishes that all the dispositions of public 
order and of kindness toward his people, that His Majesty 
will have sanctioned by his authority, during the present 
session of the States-General, those among others, relative 
to personal liberty, the equality of contributions, the estab- 
lishment of the Provincial-Estates, may never be changed with- 
out the consent of the three Orders, given separately. His 
Majesty places them in the same rank with the national 
properties, that like all other property, he wishes to place 
under the most assured protection. 

35. His Majesty, after having called the States-General 
to study, together with him, great matters of public utility 
and of everything which can contribute to the happiness of 
his people, declares in the most express manner, that he 
wishes to preserve in its entirety and without the least im- 
pairment, the constitution of the army, as well as every au- 
thority, both police authority and military power over the 
militia such as the French monarchs have constantly enjoyed. 






jQ THE ROYAL SESSION 

You have, gentlemen, heard the substance of my dispo- 
sitions and of my wishes; they are conformable to the earnest 
desire that I have for the public welfare ; and, if, by a fatality 
far from my thoughts, you should abandon me in so fine an 
enterprise, alone I will assure the well being of my people, 
alone I will consider myself as their true representative; and 
knowing your cahiers, knowing the perfect accord which ex- 
ists between the most general wish of the Nation and my 
kindly intentions, I wnll have all the confidence which so rare 
a harmony ought to inspire and I will advance towards the 
goal that I wish to attain wuth all the courage and firmness 
that it ought to inspire in me. 

Reflect, gentlemen, that none of your projects, none of 
your dispositions can have the force of a law without my 
special approbation. So I am the natural guarantee of your 
respective rights, and all the Orders of the State can rest 
upon my equitable impartiality. All distrust upon your part 
would be a great injustice. It is I, at present, who am doing 
everj^thing for the happiness of my people, and it is rare, 
perhaps, that the only ambition of a sovereign is to come 
to an understanding with his subjects that they may accept 
his kindnesses. 

I order you, gefitlemen, to separate immediately, and tcf go 
tomorrow morning, each to the chamber allotted to your Order; 
in order to take up again your sessions. I order therefore the 
Grand Master of Ceremonies, to have the halls prepared. 

C. Decree of the Assembly, June 23, 1789. Duvergier, 
Lois, I, 28. Translation, Mrs. Fred M. Fling, in Fling's Source 
Studies, Royal Session, 44. 

The National Assembly declares that the person of each 
of the deputies is inviolable ; that all individuals, all corpora- 
tions, tribunal, court or commission that shall dare, during 
or after the present session, to pursue, to seek for, to arrest 
or have arrested, detain or have detained, a deput}^ by reason 
of any propositions, advice, opinions, or discourse made by 
him in the States-General ; as well as all persons who shall 
lend their aid to any of the said attempts by whomsoever they 
may be ordered, are infamous and traitors to the Nation. 



FOURTH OP AUGUST DECREES n 

and guilty of capital crime. The National Assembly decrees 
that, in the aforesaid cases, it will take all the necessary meas- 
ures to have sought out, pursued and punished those who may 
be its authors, instigators or executors. 



4. The Fourth of August Decrees. 

August 11, 3 789. Duvergier, Lois^ I, 33-35. Translation, James 
-Harvey Robinson, University of PennsyUiania Translations and Rc- 
irints. 

The overthrow of the Bastile on July 14, 1789, was followed 
by a revolution in the provinces. Directed principally at the 
destruction of those feudal arrangements which bore most harshly 
upon the peasantry, this revolution was marked by much violence 
and misery. A report upon the condition of the provinces read 
in the Constituent Assembly on the night of August 4 led to the 
adoption of this decree. It was passed in a burst of enthusiasm 
for the regeneration of France. This haste made necessary some 
slight modifications a week later. 

Refekknces. Gardiner, French Revolution, 49-51 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 138-141 ; Stephens, French Revolution, I, 165- 
168; Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 82-86j Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire Gcnerale, VIII, 70-72. 

1. The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the 
feudal system. It decrees that, among the existing rights and 
dues, both feudal and censuel, all those originating in or rep- 
resenting real or pe rsonal ser fdom {main morte) or personal 
servitude, shall be abolished without" Indemnification. All 
other dues are declared redeemable, the terms and m'ode of 
redemption to be fixed by the National Assembly. Those 
of the. said dues which are not extinguished by this decree 
shall continue to be collected until indemnification shall take 
place. 

2. The exclusive right to maintain pigeon-houses and 
dove-cotes is abolished. The pigeons shall be confined during 
the seasons fixed by the community. During such periods 
they shall be looked upon as game, and every one shall have 
the right to kill them upon his own land. 

3. The exclusive right to hunt and to maintain unenclosed 
warrens is likewise abolished, and every land owner shall have 
the right to kill or to have destroyed on his own land all kinds 



1 



j2 FOURTH OF AUGUST DECREES 

/ of game, observing, however, such pohce regulations as may. 

L^,.. be estabHshed with a view to the safety of the pubUc. 

All hunting captainries, including the royal forests, and 
all hunting rights under whatever denomination, are likewise 
abolished. Provision shall be made, however, in a manner 
compatible with the regard due to property and liberty, for 
maintaining the personal pleasures of the King. 

The president of the assembly shall be commissioned to ask 
of the King the recall of those sent to the galleys or exiled, 
simply for violations of the hunting regulations, as well as 
for the release of those at present imprisoned for offences 
of this kind, and the dismissal of such cases as are now pend- 
ing. 

4. All manorial courts are hereby suppressed without in- 
demnification. But the magistrates of these courts shall con- 
tinue to perform their functions until such time as the National 
Assembly shall provide for the establishment of a new judicial 
system. 

5. Tithes of every description, as well as the dues which 
have been substituted for them, under whatever denomination 
they are known or collected (even when compounded for), 
possessed by secular or regular congregations, by holders 
of benefices, members of corporations (including the Order 
of Malta and other religious and military orders), as well as 
those devoted to the maintenance of churches, those impro- 
priated to lay persons and those substituted for the portion 
congrue, are abolished, on condition, however, that some other 
method be devised to provide for the expenses of divine v/or- 
ship, the support of the officiating clergy, for the assistance of 
the poor, for repairs and rebuilding of churches and parson- 
ages, and for the maintenance of all institutions, seminaries, 
schools, academies, asylums, and organizations to which the 
present funds are devoted. Until such provision shall be 
made and the former possessors shall enter upon the enjoy- 
ment of an income on the new system, the National Assembly 
decrees that the said tithes shall continue to be collected 

■ according to law and in the customary manner. 

Other tithes, of whatever nature they may be, shall be 
redeemable in such manner as the Assembly shall determine. 



FOURTH OF AUGUST DECREES 



13 



Until such regulation shall be issued, the National Assembly- 
decrees that these, too, shall continue to be collected. 

6. All perpetual ground rents, payable either in money 
or in kind, of whatever nature they may be, whatever their 
origin and to whomsoever they may be due, as to members 
of corporations, holders of the domain or appanages or to 
the Order of Malta, shall be redeemable. Champarts, of 
every kind and under all denominations, shall likewise be re- 
deemable at a rate fixed by the Assembly. No due shall in the 
future be created which is not redeemable. 

7. The sale of judicial and municipal offices shall be 
suppressed forthwith. Justice shall be dispensed gratis. Nev- 
ertheless, the -rriagistrates at present holding such offices shall 
continue to exercise their fuactions and to receive their emol- 
uments until the Assembly shall have made provision for in- 
demnifying them, 

8. The fees of the country priests are abolished, and shall 
be discontinued so ~soon as Drovision shall be made for in- 
creasing the minimum salary [portion congrue^ of the parish 
priests and the payment to the curates. A regulation shall 
be drawn up to determine the status of the priests in the 
towns. 

9. Pecuniary privileges, personal or real, in the payment of 
taxes are abolished forever. Taxes shall be collected from all 
the citizens, and from all property, in the same manner and in 
the same form. Plans shall be considered by which the 
taxes shall be paid proportionally by all, even for the last 
six months of the current year. 

10. Inasmuch as a national constitution and public liberty 
are of more advantage to the provinces than the privileges 
which some of these enjoy, and inasmuch as the surrender of 
such privileges is essential to the intimate union of all parts 
of the realm [empire], it is decreed that all the peculiar priv- 
ileges, pecuniary or otherwise, of the provinces, principalities, 
districts [pays], cantons, cities and communes, are once for 
all abolished and are absorbed into the law common to all 
Frenchmen. 

11. All citizens, without distinction of birth, arc eligible 
to any office or dignity, whether ecclesiastical, civil or military; 
and no profession shall imply any derogation. 



14 



FOL'RTH OF AUGUST DECREES 



c 



12. Hereafter no remittances shall be made for annates 
or for any other purpose to the court of Rome, the vice-lega- 
tion at Avignon, or to the nunciature at Lucerne. The clergy 
of the diocese shall apply to their bishops in regard to the 
filling of benefices and dispensations, the which shall be granted 
gratis without regard to reservations, expectancies and papal 
months, all the churches of France enjoying the same freedom. 

13. The rights of deport, of cotte-morte, depouilles, vacat, 
droits censaux, Peter's pence, and other dues of the same kind, 
under whatever denomination, established in favor of bishops, 
archdeacons, archpresbyters, chapters, and regular congrega- 
tions which formerly exercised priestly functions [cures prim- 
itifs], are abolished, but appropriate provision shall be made 
for those benefices of archdeacons and archpresbyters which 
are not sufficiently endowed. 

14. Pluralities shall not be permitted hereafter in cases 
where the revenue from the benefice or benefices held shall 
exceed the sum of three thousand livres. Nor shall any in- 
dividual be allowed to enjoy several pensions from benefices, 
or a pension and a benefice, if the revenue which he already 
enjoys from such sources exceeds the same sum of three 
thousand livres. 

15. The National Assembly shall consider, in conjunction 
with the King, the report which is to be submitted to it re- 
lating to pensions, favors and salaries, with a view to suppress- 
ing all such as are not deserved and reducing those which shall 
prove excessive ; and the amount shall be fixed which the King 
may in the future disburse for this purpose. 

16. The National Assembly decrees that a medal shall be 
struck in memory of the recent grave and important deliber- 
ations for the welfare of France, and that a Te Deum shall be 
chanted in gratitude in all the parishes and the churches of 
France. 

17. The National Assembly solemnly proclaims the King, 
Louis XVI, the Restorer of French Liberty. 

18. The National Assembly shall present itself in a body 
before the King, in order to submit to him the decrees which 
have just been passed, to tender to him the tokens of its most 
respectful gratitude and to pray him to permit the Te Deum 



DECLARATION OF RIGHTS 



15 



to be chanted in his chapel, and to be present himself at this 
service. 

19. The National Assembly shall consider, immediately 
after the constitution, the drawing up of the laws necessary 
for the development of the principles which it has laid down 
in the present decree. The latter shall be transmitted without 
delay by the deputies to all the provinces, together with the 
decree of the tenth of this month, in order that it may be 
printed, published, announced from the parish pulpits, and 
posted up wherever it shall be deemed necessary. 



5. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. 

This is the most famous document connected with the early 
stages of the Revolution. Until recently it has been regarded as 
an outgrowth of the doctrinaire ideas of the pre-revolutionary 
thinliers. especially of Rousseau. It should be studied, however, 
in the light of recent investigations into its origin and character. 
These investigations show (1) that the idea of formulating such 
a declaration was taken from the bills of rights attached to Amer- 
ican state constitutions and (2) that in general each of its pro- 
visions is aimed at some great existing abuse. 

References. Jellinek, Declaration of the Rights of Man and 
Gitizen; James Harvey Robinson, Political Science Quarterly ^ XIV, 
653-662 ; Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 39-48. 

[This was subsequently incorporated in the Constitution of 
1791. See No. 15.] 



6. Documents upon the Constituent Assembly and the 
Church. 

These documents show both the general attitude of the Con- 
stituent Assembly towards religion and the revolution which it 
sought to effect in the position of the Galilean Church. Careful 
attention to the phraseology of the documents will reveal much 
concerning the ideas upon which the Assembly proceeded. 

Refekekces. Sloane, French Revolution and Religious Reform, 
Chs, v-Yiii ; Gardiner, French Revolution, 67-69 ; Stephens, French 
Revolution, I, Ch. x ; Debidour, L'Eglise et de I'Etat, Part I, Ch-s. 
i and II ; Mathews, French Revolution, 161-163. 

A. Decree upon the Church Lands. November 2, 1789, 
Duvergier, Lois, I, 54-55- 

The National Assembly decrees, ist. All the ecclesiastical 
estates are at the disposal of the nation, on condition of pro- 



l6 CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 

viding in a suitable manner for the expenses of worship, the 
maintenance of its ministers, and the reHef of the poor, un- 
der the supervision and following the directions of the pro- 
Tinces ; 2d, that in the provisions to be made, in order to pro- 
vide for the maintenance of the ministers of religion, there can 
be assured for the endowment of each cure not less than tzi'clvc 
hundred livres per annum, not including the dwelling and the 
gardens attached. 

B. Decree upon Monastic Vowi\ February 13, i7§g^ Du- 
vergier, Lois, I, 100. 

1. The constitutional law of the kingdom shall no longer 
recognize solemn monastic vows of persons of either sex ; in 
consequence, the orders and congregations living according to 
rule are and shall remain sup^essed in France, without there 
being any similar ones allowed in the future. 

2. All the persons of either sex living in the monasteries 
and religious houses may leave them by making their 
declaration before the municipality of the place, and there 
shall immediately be provision made for their existence by a 
suitable pension. There shall also be houses set aside to which 
the religious who do not wish to profit by the provision of the 
present [article] shall be required to retire. Moreover, there 
shall be no change for the present in respect to the houses 
charged with public education and the establishments of char- 
ity and any that have until now taken part in these matters. 

3. The religious shall be able to remain in the houses in 
which they are at present, excepting those described in the 
article which requires the religious to unite several houses into 
one. 

C. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. July 12, 1790. 
Duvergier, Lois, 1, 242-248. Translation, James Harvey Rob- 
inson, University of Pennsyhania Translations and Reprints. 

The National Assembly, after having heard the report of 
the Ecclesiastical Committee, has decreed and does decree the 
following as constitutional articles : — 

TITLE I. 

I. Each department shall form a single diocese, and each 
diocese shall have the same extent and the same limits as the 
department. 



CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH J7 

2. The seat of the bishoprics of the eighty-three depart- 
ments of the kingdom shall be established as follows : That of 
the Department of the Lower Seine at Rouen; that of the De- 
p£irtment of Calvados at Bayeux. . . . [The names of the 
remaining episcopal sees are here omitted.] 

All other bishoprics in the eighty-three departments of the 
kingdom, which are not included by name in the present article 
are, and forever shall be, abolished. 

The kingdom shall be divided into ten metropolitan dis- 
tricts, of which the sees shall be situated at Rouen, Rheims, 
Besangon, Rennes, Paris, Bourges, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Aix 
and Lyons. These archbishoprics shall have the following 
denominations : That of Rouen shall be called the Archbishop- 
ric of the Coast of the Channel. . . . [The remaining 
names of the archbishoprics are here omitted.] 

3. [This article enumerates the departments included in 
each archbishopric] 

4. No church or parish of France nor any French citizen' 
may acknowledge upon any occasion or upon any pretext what- 
soever, the authority of an ordinary bishop or of an archbishop 
whose see shall be under the supremacy of a foreign power, 
nor that of their representatives residing in France or else- 
where; without prejudice, however, to the unity of the faith 
and the intercourse which shall be maintained with the Visible 
Head of the Universal Church, as hereafter provided. 

5. After the bishop of a diocese shall have rendered his 
decision in his synod upon the matters lying within his compe- 
tence an appeal may be carried to the archbishop, who shall 
give his decision in the metropolitan synod. 

6. A new arrangement and division of all the parishes of 
the kingdom shall be undertaken immediately in co^ncert with 
the Bishop and the District Administration. The number and 
extent of the parishes shall be determined according to rules 
which shall be laid down. 

7. The cathedral church of each diocese shall be restored 
to its primitive condition and be hereafter at once the church 
of the parish and of the diocese. This shall be accomplished 
by the suppression of parishes and by the redistribution of 
dwellings which it may be deemed necessary to include in the 
new parish. 



l8 CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 

[Articles 8 to 13, here omitted, regulate the organization 
of the cathedral church and provide for one seminary m each 
diocese.] 

14. The vicars of the cathedral churches, the superior 
vicar and directing vicars of the seminary shall form 
the regular and permanent Council of the Bishop, who 
shall perform no official act which concerns the government of 
the diocese or of the seminary until he has consulted them. 
The bishop may, however, in the course of his visits issue such 
provisional ordinances as may be necessary. 

15. There shall be but a single parish in all cities and towns 
having not more than 6,000 inhabitants. The other parishes 
shall be abolished or absorbed into that of the Episcopal 
church. 

16. In cities having a population of more than 6,000 inhab- 
itants a parish may include a greater number of parishioners, 
and as many parishes shall be perpetuated as the needs of the 
people and localities shall require. 

17. The administrative assemblies, in concert with the bish- 
op of the diocese, shall indicate to the next legislative assembly, 
the country and subordinate urban parishes which ought to 
be contracted or enlarged, established or abolished, and shall 
indicate farther the limits of the parishes as the needs of the 
people, • the dignity of religion and the various localities shall 
require. 

20. All titles and offices other than those mentioned in the 
present constitution, dignites, canonries, prebends, half-pre- 
bends, chapels, chaplainships, both In cathedral and collegiate 
churches, all regular and secular chapters for either sex, ab- 
bacies and priorships, both regular and in commendam, for 
either sex, as well as all other benefices and prestimonies in 
general, of whatever kind or denomination, are from the day 
of this decree extinguished and abolished and shall never be 
re-established in any form. 

TITLE II. 

I. Beginning with the day of publication of the present de- 
cree there shall be but one mode of choosing bishops and par- 
ish priests, namely that of election. 



CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 



19 



2. All elections shall be by ballot and shall be decided by 
the absolute majority of the votes. 

3. The election of bishops shall take place according to the 
forms and by the electoral body designated in the decree of 
December 22, 1789, for the election of members of the De- 
partmental Assembly. 

6. The election of a bishop can only take place or be under- 
taken upon Sunday, in the principal church of the chief town 
of the department, at the close of the parish mass, at which 
all the electors are required to be present. 

7. In order to be eligible to a bishopric one must have ful- 
filled for fifteen years at least the duties of the church mm- 
istry in the diocese as a parish priest, officiating minister or 
curate or as superior or as directing vicar of the seminary. 

17. The archbishop or senior bishop of the proving shall 
have the right to examine the bishop-elect in the presence of 
his council upon his belief and his character. If he deems him 
fit for the position he shall give him the canonical institution. 
If he believes it his duty to refuse this, the reasons for his re- 
fusal shall be recorded in writing and signed by the archbishop 
and his council, reserving to the parties concerned the right to 
appeal on the ground of an abuse of power as hereinafter pro- 
vided. 

18. The bishop applied to for institution may not exact 
of the person elected any form of oath except that he makes 
profession of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion. 

19. The new bishop may not apply to the pope for any 
form of conformation, but shall write to him as the Visible 
Head of the Universal Church as a testimony to the unity of 
faith and communion maintained with him. 

21. Before the ceremony of consecration begins, the bishop- 
elect shall take a solemn oath in the presence of the municipal 
officers, of the people and of the clergy to guard with care the 
faithful of his diocese who are confided to him, to be loyal to 
the Nation, the Law and the King and to support with all his 



20 CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 

power the constitution decreed by the National Assembly and 
accepted by the King. 

25. The election of the parish priests shall take place ac- 
cording to the forms and by the electors designated in the de- 
cree of December 22, 1789, for the election of members of the 
Administrative Assembly of the District. 

29. Each elector, before depositing his ballot in the ballot- 
box, shall take oath to vote only for that person whom he- has 
conscientiously selected in his heart as the most worthy, with- 
out having been influenced by any gift, promise, solicitation or 
threat. The same oath shall be required at the election of the 
bishops as in the case of the parish priests. 

40. Bishoprics and cures shall be looked upon as vacant 
until those elected to fill them shall have taken the oath above 
mentioned. 

TITLE III. 

1. The ministers of religion, performing as they do the first 
and most important functions of society and forced to live 
continuously in the place where they discharge the offices to 
which they have been called by the confidence of the people, 
shall be supported by the nation. 

2. Every bishop, priest and officiating clergyman in a chapel 
of ease, shall be furnished with a suitable dwelling on condi- 
tion, however, that the occupant shall make all the necessary 
current repairs. This shall not affect, at present, in any way, 
those parishes where the priest now receives a money equiv- 
alent instead of his dwelling. The departments shall, more- 
over, have cognizance of suits arising in this connection, 
brought by the parishes and by the priests. Salaries shall be 
assigned to each, as indicated below. 

3. The Bishop of Paris shall receive 50,000 livres; the 
bishops of cities having a population of 50,000 or more, 20,000 
livres; other bishops, 12,000 livres. 

4. [Article 4 fixes the salaries of the vicars of cathedral 
churches. These ranged from 6000-2000 Ikres.'] 



CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 21 

5. The salaries of the parish priests shall be as follows: 
In Paris, 6000 livres; in cities having a population of 50,000 
or over, 4000 livres; in those having a population of less than 
50,000 and more than 10,000, 3000 livres; in cities and towns 
of which the population is below 10,000 and more than 3000, 
2400 livres. 

In all other cities, towns and villages where the parish shall 
have a population between 3000 and 2500, 2000 livres; in those 
between 2500 and 2000, 1800 livres; in those having a popula- 
tion of less than 2000, and more than 1000, the salary shall be 
1500 livres; in those having 1000 inhabitants and under, 1200 
livres. 

6. [The salaries of the curates, fixed by article 6, ranged 
from 24C<D livres at Paris to 700 in the small places.] 

7. The salaries in money of the ministers of rehgion shall 
be paid every three months, in advance, by the treasurer of the 
district. 

11. The schedule fixed above for the payment of the min- 
isters of religion shall go into effect upon the day of publication 
of this decree, but only in the case of those who shall be after- 
ward provided with ecclesiastical offices. The remuneration 
of the present holders, both those whose offices or functions 
are aboHshed and those whose titles are retained, shall be fixed 
by a special decree. 

12. In view of the salary which is assured to them by the 
present constitution, the bishops, parish priests and curates 
shall perform the episcopal and priestly functions gratis. 



1. The law requiring the residence of ecclesiastics in the 
districts under their charge shall be strictly observed. All vest- 
ed with an ecclesiastical office or function shall be subject to 
this without distinction or exception. 

2. No bishop shall absent himself from his diocese more 
than two weeks consecutively during the year, except in case 
of real necessity and with the consent of the Directory of the 
Department in which his see is situated. 

3. In the same manner the parish priests and the curates 
may not absent themselves from the place of their duties be- 



22 CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 

yond the term fixed above, except for weighty reasons, and 
even in such cases the priests must obtain the permission both 
of their bishop and of the Directory of their district, and the 
curates that of the parish priest. 

4. In case a bishop or a priest shall violate this law requir- 
ing residence, the communal government shall inform the 
procureiir-general syndic of the department who shall issue a 
summons to him to return to his duties. After a second warn- 
ing the procureur shall take steps to have his salary declared 
forfeited for the whole period of his absence. 

6. Bishops, parish priests and curates may, as active citi- 
zens, be present at the Primary and Electoral Assemblies, they 
may be chosen electors or as deputies to the Legislative Body, 
or as members of the General Council of the Communes or of 
the Administrative Councils of their districts or departments 
Their duties are, however, declared incompatible with those of 
Maire or other municipal officers and those of the members of 
the Directories of the District and of the Department. If 
elected to one of these last mentioned offices they must make a 
choice between it and their ecclesiastical position. 

7. The incompatibility of office mentioned in article 6 shall 
only be observed in the future. If any bishops, parish priests 
or curates have been called by their fellow-citizens to the offi- 
ces of Maire or to other communal offices or have been elected 
members of the Directory of the District or of the Department, 
they may continue their functions. 

D. Decree upon the Clerical Oath. November 27, 1790. 
Duvergier, Lois, II, 59-60. 

I. The bishops and former archbishops and the cures kept 
in their positions shall be required, if they have not already 
done so, to take the oath for which they are liable . 
concerning the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. In consequence, 
they shall swear ... to look with care after the faithful 
of their diocese or the parish which is intrusted to them, to be 
faithful to the nation, to the law and to the King, and to main- 
tain with all their power the constitution decreed by the Na- 
tional Assembly and accepted by the King. 



CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH 



23 



2. [The same requirement, except the first clause, is made 
of "all other ecclesiastical public functionaries."] 

5. Those of the said bishops, former archbishops, cures, 
and other ecclesiastical public functionaries, who shall not have 
taken . . . the oath which is prescribed for them respec- 
tively, shall be reputed to have renounced their office and there 
shall be provision made for their replacement, as in case of 
vacancy by the resignation. . 

E. Decree upon the Publication of Papal Documents. June 
9, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 10. 

The National Assembly, after having heard its united con- 
stitutional and ecclesiastical committees, considering that it is 
of importance for the national sovereignty and the mainte- 
nance of public order within the kingdom, to determine consti- 
tutionally the conservative forms of the ancient and salutary 
maxims by which the French nation has always kept clear of 
the enterprises of the court of Rome, without lacking in the 
respect due to the head of the Catholic Church, decrees as fol- 
lows : 

1. No briefs, bulls, rescripts, constitutions, decrees, or 
other documents of the court of Rome, under any denomination 
whatsoever, shall be recognized as such, received, published, 
printed, posted, or otherwise put into execution within the 
kingdom, but they shall here be null and of no efifect, unless 
they have been presented to the Legislative_3ojdyj--seen and 
verified by it, and unless their publication and execution have 
been~autEorised by a decree sanctioned by the King and pro- 
mulgated in the forms established for the notification of the 
laws. 

2, The bishops, cures, and other public functionaries, 
whether ecclesiasticarcrr~Tay7*'wHo, in contravention of the pre- 
ceding article^^hall read, distribute, cause to be read, distrib- 
uledj__2rjinted, posted, or_shall otherwise give publicity or execu- 
tion to the brief s,^ bulls, rescripts, constitutions, decrees, or other 
documents of the court of Rome,, not authorised by a decree of 
the Legislative Body sanctioned by the King, shall be prose- 
cuted criminally as disturbers of the public-order and pun- 



24 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



ished with the penalty of civic degradation, without prejudice 
to the execution of article 2 of the decree of May 7 last. 

7. Decrees for Reorganizing the Local Government System. 

These documents exhibit the general outline of the scheme for 
local government deyised by the Constituent Assembly in order 
to replace that of the Old Regime, which- had disappeared during 
the revolution in ths provinces which followed the overthroT\^ 
of the Bastile. The extent of the revolution in local ,affairs may 
be seen by comparing this scheme of government with that which 
it replaced. Some parts of the scheme here outlined have been 
permanent, others have been seriously modified or discarded ; -the 
permanent features should be particularly noted. 

Refkrences. Stephens, French Revolution, I,- 278-284 ; La- 
visse and Eambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 79-84. 

A. Decree upon the Municipalities. December 14, 1789. 
Duvergier, Lois, 1, 63-67. 

1. The actually existing municipalities in each cit}^; bor- 
ough, parish, or community, under the titles of hotels-de-ville, 
mayoralties, aldermanates, consulates, and generally under any 
title or qualification whatsoever, are suppressed and abolished ; 
the municipal officers actually in service, however, shall con- 
tinue their functions until they may be replaced. 

2. The officers and members of the existing municipalities 
shall be replaced by means of election. 

3. The rights- of presentation, appointment, or confirmation, 
and the rights of presidency or of presence in the municipal 
assemblies claimed or exercised as being attached to the pos- 
session of certain lands, to the functions of province or city 
commandant, bishoprics, or archbishoprics, and in general by 
any other title whatsoever, are abolished. 

4. The head of every municipal body shall bear the title of 
mayor. 

5. All the active citizens of each city, borough, parish or 
community may participate in the election of the members of 
the municipal body. 

6. The active citizens shall meet in a single assembly in 
the communities where there are less than four thousand in- 
habitants ; in two assemblies in the communities of four to 
eight thousand inhabitants ; in three assemblies in the commun- 
ities of eight to twelve thousand inhabitants, and so on. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



25 



7. The assemblies shall not form themselves by crafts, pro- 
fessions, or corporations, but by quarters or districts. 

12. The conditions of eligibility for the municipal admin- 
istrations shall be the same as for the department and dis- 
trict administrations ; nevertheless, the kinsmen and relatives 
by marriage in the degrees of father and son, father-in-law and 
son-in-law, brother and brother-in-law, uncle and nephew, can- 
not be at the same tim.e members of the same municipal body. 

13. The municipal officers and the notables who shall be 
spoken of hereinafter can be chosen only from among the elig- 
ible citizens of the commune, 

24. After the elections, the active citizens of the commun- 
ity cannot remain assembled, or assemble again in communal 
body, without an express convocation ordered by the general 
council of the commune, which shall be spoken of hereinafter. 
This council shall not refuse it, if it is requested by one-sixth of 
the active citizens in the communities below 4,000 souls and by 
150 active citizens in all the other communities. 

25. The members of the municipal bodies of the cities, 
boroughs, parishes, or communities, shall be three in. number, 
including the mayor, when the population shall be less than 
500 souls; six, including the mayor, from 500 souls. to 3,000; 
nine from 3,000 souls to 10,000 ; twelve from io,cco to 2-^, 
000; fifteen from 25,000 to 50,000; eighteen from 50,000 to 
100,000 ; twenty-one above 100,000 souls. As to the city of 
Paris, in consequence of its enormous population, it shall be 
governed by a special regulation which shall be given by the 
National Assembly upon the same basis and after the same 
principles as the general regulation for all the municipalities of 
tne kingdom. 

26. There shall be in each municipality a communal pro- 
cureiir without deliberative voice; he shall be charged to de- 
fend the interests and to prosecute the suits of the community. 

30. The active citizens of each community shall select, by 
a single scrutin de liste and plurality of the votes, a number of 
notables double that of the members of the municipal body. 



26 LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 

31. These notables shall form with the members of the 
municipal body the general council of the commune and they 
shall be summoned only for important matters, as hereinafter 
provided. 

34. Each municipal body composed of more than three 
members shall be divided into a council and a bureau. 

35. The bureau shall be composed of a third of the muni- 
cipal officers, including the mayor who shall always make up 
part of it ; the other two-thirds shall form the council. 

S6. The members of the bureau shall be chosen by the 
municipal body every year and cannot be re-elected for a sec- 
ond year. 

37. The bureau shall be charged with all executive tasks 
and confined to simple administration. In the municipalities 
reduced to three members the execution shall be entrusted to 
tne mayor alone. 

38. The municipal council shall assemble at least once per 
month ; it shall begin by agreeing upon the accounts of the 
bureau, when there is occasion; and after that operation is 
completed the members of the bureau shall have sitting and 
deliberative voice with those of the council. 

39. All the deliberations necessary for the discharge of the 
functions of the municipal body shall be taken in the united 
assembly of the members of the council and of the bureau, 
with the exception of deliberations relative to the closing of 
the accounts, which, as will be said, shall be taken by the coun ■ 
-cil alone. 

42. The municipal officers and the notables shall be elected 
for two years and renewed each year by half. . 

43. The mayor shall remain in service for two years ; he 
can be re-elected for two other years; but following that it 
shall not be permissible to elect him again until after an in- 
terval of two years, 

45. The election assemblies for the annual renewals shall 
be held in all the kingdom the Sunday following Martinmas- 
day, upon the call of the miinicipal officers. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



27 



49. The municipal bodies shall have two kinds of functions 
to fulfill ; one appertaining to the municipal authority ; the other 
appertaining to the general administration of the State and 
delegated by it to the mAmicipalities. 

50. The functions appertaining to the municipal authority, 
under the surveillance and supervision of the administrative 
assemblies, are : to manage the common possessions and reven- 
ues of the cities, boroughs, parishes, and communities ; to con- 
trol and to pay those local expenses which ought to be paid out 
r>f the common funds ; to direct and to cause to be executed 
the public works which are under the charge of the commun 
ity ; to administer the establishments which belong to the com- 
munity and are maintained out of its funds or which are espec- 
ially intended for the use of the citizens of whom it is comi- 
posed; to cause the inhabitants to enjoy the advantages of a 
good police, especially for property, health, security, and tran- 
quility in the public streets, places, and buildings. 

51. The functions appertaining to the general adtninistra- 
tion which can be delegated to the municipal bodies in order to 
be discharged under the authority of the administrative assem- 
blies are: the apportionment of the direct taxes among the 
citizens of whom the community is composed ; the collection of 
these taxes ; the deposit of these taxes in the coffers of the dis- 
trict or department ; the immediate direction of the public 
works within the jurisdiction of the municipality; the immedi- 
ate management of the public establishments intended for gen- 
eral utility; the surveillance and the agency necessary for the 
preservation of the public properties ; the direct oversight of 
the works of repair and reconstruction of the churches, par- 
sonages, and other things related to the service of religious 
worship. 

52. For the exercise of the functions belonging to or dele- 
gated to the municipal bodies ithey shall have the right to make 
requisition for the necessary assistance of the national guards 
and other public forces as shall be more fully set forth. 

54. The general council of the commune, composed as well 
of the municipal body as of the notables, shall be convoked 
whenever the municipal administration .shall judge it conven- 
ient. It cannot dispense with convoking it when there is 



28 LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 

in question deliberation upon the acquisitions or alienations, of 
immovables, extraordinary taxes for local expenses, loans, 
works to be undertaken, the employment of the proceeds of 
sales, reim.bursements or recoveries, suits to be instituted, even 
upon suits to be defended, in case the basis of the right shall 
be contested. 

55. The municipal bodies shall be entirely subordinate to 
the department and district administrations for every thing 
which shall concern the functions which they shall have to dis • 
charge by delegation of the general administration. 

56. As to the exercise of the functions appertaining to the 
municipal authority, none of the decisions for which the con- 
vocation of the general council of tlie commune is necessary-, 
according to article 54 above, can be executed except with th^ 
approval of the department administration or directory, which 
shall be given, if there is occasion, upon the notification of the 
district administration or directory. 

57. All the accounts of the management of the municipal 
bureaus, after they have been received by the municipal council, 
shall be verified by the district administration or directory, and 
agreed to definitively by the department administration or 
directory upon the notification of that of the district or of lU 
directory. 

60. If a citizen believes himself to be personally injured by 
any act of the municipal body, he may set forth his matters of 
complaint to the department administration or directory, which 
shall do right therein, upon the notification of the district ad- 
ministration, w^hich shall be charged wnth the verification of the 
facts. 

61. Every active citizen can . subscribe to and present 
against the municipal officers a denunciation of the administra- 
tive oft'ences of which he claims that they have rendered thrm- 
selves guilty; but prior to carrying this denunciation before 
the tribunals, he shall be required to submit it to the depart- 
ment administration or directory, which, after having taken 
the opinion of the district administration or its directory, shall 
send the denunciation, if there be need, before the judges who 
must take jurisdiction of it. 

62. The active citizens have the right to meet peaceably and 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 29 

without arms in special assemblies, in order to draw up ad- 
dresses and petitions to the municipal body or to the depart- 
ment amd district administrations, or to the Legislative Body, 
or to the King, under the condition of giving notice to the 
municipal officers of the time and the place of these assemblies, 
and with power to depute only ten citizens to bring and pre- 
sent these petitions and addresses. 

B. Decree upon the Departments and Districts. Decem- 
ber 22, 1789. Duvergier, Lois, I, IZ'!^- 

1. There shall be made a new division of the kingdom m- 
to departments, both for representation and administration. 
These departments shall be from seventy-five to eighty-five in 
number, 

2. Each department shall be divided into districts, of 
which the number, which shall not be less than three nor more 
than nine, shall be determined by the National Assembly, ac- 
cording to the need and convenience of the department, after 
having heard the deputies of the provinces. 

3. Each district shall be divided into divisions called 
cantons, of about four square leagues (common leagues of 
France). 

5. There shall be established at the head-town of each de- 
partment a higher administrative assembly, under the title of 
Department Administration. 

6. There shall likewise be established at the head-town of 
each district a subordinate administrative assembly, under the 
title of District Administration. 

7. There shall be a municipality in each city, borough, 
parish or rural community. 

Section II. Of the formation and organization of the ad- 
ministrative assemxblies. 

1. There shall be only one degree of election intermediate 
between the primary assemblies and the administrative as- 
semblies. 

2. After having selected the representatives to the National 
Assembly, the same electors in each department shall elect the 
members, to the number of twenty-six, who shall compose the 
Departm ent A dministration. 



30 LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECEBBS 

3. The electors of each district shall meet afterwards at the 
head-town of their district and shall there select the members, 
to the number of twelve, who shall compose the District Ad- 
ministration. 

4. The members of the department administration shall be 
chosen from among the eligible citizens of all the districts of 
the department, in such a manner, however, that there shall 
always be in that administration at least two members from 
each district. 

5. The members of the district administrations shall be 
chosen from among the eligible citizens of all the cantons of 
tne district. 

6. In order to be eligible to the district and department 
administrations it shall be necessary to unite to the conditions 
requisite for active citizenship that of paying a larger direct 
tax and which amounts to at least the local value of ten days 
of labor. 

12. Each administration, whether department or district, 
shall be permanent and the members shall be renewed by half 
every two years ; the first time by lot, after the first two years 
of service, and afterwards by order of seniority. 

13. The members of the administrations shall thus be in 
office for four years, with the exception of those who shall go 
out by lot at the first renewal after the first two years. 

20. Each department administration shall be divided into 
two sections, one under the title of Department Council, the 
other under that of Department Directory. 

21. The department council shall hold annually one session 
in order to determine the regulations for each part of the admin- 
istration, to order the public works and the general expenses 
of the department, and to receive an account of the administra- 
tion of the directory. The first session may be of six weeks, 
and that of the following years of a month at most. 

23. The members of each department administration shall 
elect, at the end of their first session, eight from among them- 
selves to compose the directory; they shall renew these every 
year by a half. The president of the department administration 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 3I 

may be present and shall have the right to preside at all the 
sittings of the directory, which may, nevertheless, choose a 
vice-president. 

24. At the opening of each annual session the department 
council shall begin by hearing, receiving, and agreeing to the 
account of the administration of the directory; afterwards the 
members of the directory shall take their seats and shall have 
deliberative voice with those of the council. 

27. Everything which is prescribed by articles 22, 23, and 
24 above, for the functions, the form of election and of re- 
newal, the right of sitting and of deliberative voice of the 
members of the department directory, shall likewise apply to 
those of the district directories. 

28. The district administrations and directories shall be 
entirely subordinate to the department administrations and 
directories. 

29. The district councils may hold their annual session for 
only fifteen days at most and the opening of this session shall 
precede by a month that of the department council. 

30. The district councils can only look after the preparation 
of the requests to be made and the matters to be submitted to 
the department administration in the interest of the district, 
arrange for methods of execution, and receive the accounts of 
the administration of their directory. 

31. The district directories shall be charged with the ex- 
ecution, within the extent of the jurisdiction of their district, 
under the direction and authority of the department adminis- 
tration and of its directory, and they cannot cause the execu- 
tion of any orders of the district council in matters of general 
administration, unless approved by the department adminis- 
tration. 

Section III. Of the functions of the administrative as- 
semblies. 

I. The department administrations are charged, under the 
supervision of the Legislative Body and in virtue of its dc' 
crees ; ist, with the apportionment of all the direct taxes im- 
posed upon each department. This apportionment shall be 
made by the department administrations among the districts of 



32 LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 

their jurisdiction and by the district administrations among the 
municipahties ; 2d, to order and to cause to be made up, ac- 
cording to the forms which shall be established, the assessment 
rolls of the taxpayers of each municipality ; 3d, to regulate and 
to supervise everything which relates as well to the collection 
and deposit of the product of these taxes as to the service and 
functions of the agents who shall have charge of them ; 4th, to 
order and to cause to be executed the payment of the expenses 
which shall be allowed in each department out of the product 
of the same taxes. 

2. The department administrations shall be further 
charged, under the authority and supervision of the King, as 
supreme head of the nation and of the general administration 
of the kingdom, with all the parts of that administration, es- 
pecially with those which relate to: ist, the relief of paupers 
and the police regulation of mendicants and vagabonds ; 2d, the 
supervision and improvement of the management of hospitals. 
hoteh-dieu, charitable establishments and workshops, prisons, 
jails, and houses of correction; 3d, the supervision of public 
education and political and moral instruction ; 4th, the custody 
and employment of the funds set aside in each department for 
the encouragement of agriculture, industry, and every^ form of 
public beneficence; 5th, the preservation of pubHc property; 
6th, that of forests, rivers, roads, and other public property; 
7th, the direction and execution of work for the making of 
highways, canals, and other public works authorised in the 
department ; 8th, the maintenance, repair, and reconstruction 
of the churches, parsonages, and other things necessary for the 
service of religious worship ; 9th, the maintenance of the 
public health, security, and tranquility; loth, lastly, the disposal 
and employment of the national guards, as shall be regulated 
by special decrees. 

3. The district administrations shall participate in these 
functions within the extent of the jurisdiction of each district 
only under the interposed authority of the department admin- 
istrations. 

4. The department and district administrations shall be 
always required to conform, in the exercise of all these func- 
tions, to the regulations established by the constitution and to 
the legislative decrees sanctioned by the King. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 33 

5. The decisions of the department administrative assem- 
bHes upon all the m'atters which shall concern the regime of 
the general administration of the kingdom or upon new un- 
dertakings and extraordinary works can be executed only after 
having received the approval of the King. The special authori- 
sation of the King shall not be necessary with respect to the 
despatch of the special matters and anything which is carried 
out in virtue of decisions already approved. 

6. The department and district administrations shall not be 
able to establish any tax, for any purpose or under any de- 
nomination whatsoever, by assessing anyone in excess of the 
sums and the time fixed. by the Legislative Body; nor to make 
any loan, unless authorised by it, except to provide for the 
establishment of suitable means to procure for themselves the 
necessary funds for the payment of the local debts and ex- 
penses and for imperative and urgent needs. 

7. They cannot be disturbed in the exercise of their ad- 
ministrative functions by any act of the judicial power. 

8. From the day when the department and district admin- 
istrations shall be formed, the Provincial-Estates, the Provin- 
cial Assemblies, and the inferior assemblies which exist at pres- 
ent shall be suppressed and shall entirely cease their functions. 

9. There shall not be any intermediary between the de- 
partment administrations and the supreme executive powers. 
The abolished commissioners, and the intendants and their sub- 
delegates, shall cease all functions as soon as the department 
administrations shall have entered into service. 

10. In the provinces which have ihad up to the present a 
common administration and which are divided among several 
departments, each department administration shall appoint two 
commissioners who shall meet together in order to effect the 
liquidation of the debts contracted under the preceding regime, 
to establish the apportionment of these debts among the dif- 
ferent parts of the province and to put an end to these former 
matters. The account thereof shall be rendered to an assembly 
formed of four other commissioners appointed by each de- 
partment administration. 



34 DECREE ABOLISHING NOBILITY 

8. Decree for Abolishing the Nobility. 

June 19, 1790. Duvergier, Lois, 1, 217-218. 

The Reyolution was a social revolution even more than a 
political one. On its social side it was marked by a passionate 
desire for equality, i.e., the removal of inequalities created or 
sanctioned by the law. This decree is typical of many passed by 
the Constituent Assembly for the purpose of removing legal sanc- 
tion for social inequalities. 

Reference. Von Sybel, French Revolution, I, 238-241. 

I. Hereditary nobility is forever abolished; in conse- 
quence the titles of prince, duke, count, marquis, viscount, 
/ vidame, baron, knight, niessire, eciiyer noble, and all other 

/ similar titles, shall neither be taken by anyone whomsoever 

f nor given to anybody. 

"^s^ 2. A citizen may take only the true name of his family; 

no one may wear liveries nor cause them to be worn, nor 
have armorial bearings; incense shall not be burned in the 

I temples, except in order to honor the Divinity, and shall not 

\ be offered for any one whomsoever. 

V. _ 3. The titles oi monseig^Mur and messeigneurs shall not be 
given to any body [of men] nor to jLn,x.4l£rson, likewise the 
titles of excellency, highness, eminence, grace, etc. ; neverthe- 
less, no citizen, under pretext of the present decree, shall be 
permitted to make an attack on the monuments placed in the 
temples, the charters, titles and other tokens of interest to 
families or properties, nor the decorations of any public or 
/ private place; nevertheless, the execution of the provisions 

I relative to the Hveries and the arms placed upon carriages 
shall not be carried out nor demanded by any one whomisoever 
before the J4th of July for the citizens living in Paris and be- 
fore three months for those who inhabit the country. 

4. No foreigners are included in the provision of the pres- 
ent decree ; they may preserve in France their liveries and 

__ their armorial bearings. 



9. Decree for Reorganizing the Judicial System. 

August 16, 1790. Duvergier, Lois, I, 310-333. 

One of the worst features of the Old Regime was its system 
for administering justice. This document, better than any other 



JUDICIAL SYSTEM DECREE 35 

one, exhibits the work of the Constituent Assembly in the field 
of judicial reform. Other importiant decrees are those of October 
8 and 9, 1789. and of September 16 and 25, 1791, unfortunately 
too long to be included here. 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, I, 284-288 ; La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, "VIII, 84-85, 494-497. 

TITLE I. OF THE ARBITERS. 

I. Arbitration being the most reasonable means for the 
termination of disputes between citizens, the legislatures shall 
not make any provision which shall tend to diminish either the 
popularity or the efficiency of the compromis. 



TITLE II. OF THE JUDGES IN GENERAL. 

1. Justice shall be rendered in the name of the King. 

2. The sale of judicial offices is abolished forever; the 
judges shall render justice gratuitously and shall be salaried 
by the State. 

3. The judges shall be elected by the justiciable. 

4. They shainte'-eteeted'^for six years ; at the expiration of 
this term, a new election shall take place, in which the same 
judges may be re-elected. 

12. They shall not make regulations, but they shall have 
recourse to the legislative body, whenever they think necessary, 
either to interpret a law or to make a new one. 

13. The judicial functions are distinct and shall always 
remain separated from the administrative functions. The 
judges, under penalty of forfeiture, shall not disturb In any 
manner whatsoever the operations of the administrative bodies, 
nor cite before them the administrators on account of their 
functions. 

14. In every civil or criminal matter, the pleadings, testi- 
mony, and decisions shall be public, and every citizen shall 
have the right to himself defend his own case, either verbally 
or in writin^,,^.^ -.-.--:-~«»-~--»----.^^ ..,™.«.,.™»»-«»«««-»»=-«. 

15. Trial by jury shall occur in criminal matters; the ex- 
amination shall be made publicly and shall have the publicity 
which shall be determined. 

16. All privilege in matters of jurisdiction is abolished ; all 



36 



JUDICIAL SYSTEM DECREE 



citizens, without distinction, shall plead in the same form and, 
before the same judges in the same cases. 

17. The constitutional order of the jurisdictions shall not 
be disturbed, nor the justiciable removed from their natural 
judges by any commission, nor by other attributions or evo- 
cations than those which are determined by the law. 

18. All citizens being equal ..befare the law, and every pref- 
erence for rank and the turn to be tried being an injustice, all 
suits, according to their nature, shall be tried when they have 
been examined in the order in which their trial shall have been 
applied for by the parties. 

19. The civil laws shall be reviewed and reformed by the 
legislatures ; and there shall be made a general code of laws 
that are simple, clear, and in harmony with the constitution. 

20. The Code of civil procedure shall be reformed forth- 
with in such a manner that it may be rendered more simple, 
more expeditious, and less expensive, 

21. The Penal Code shall be reformed forthwith in such 
a manner that the penalties may be proportionate to the of- 
fences; taking good care that they be moderate and not losing 
sight of that maxim of the declaration of the rights of man 
■that the law can establish only penalties which are strictly and 
evidently necessary. 

TITLE III. OF THE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 

I. There shall be in each canton a justice of the peace and 
upright assessors of the justice of the peace. 

3. The justices of the peace may be chosen only from 
among the citizens eligible to the department and district ad- 
ministrations, fully thirty years of age, without any other con- 
dition of eligibility. 

4. The justices of the peace shall be elected, with individ- 
ual ballot and majority of the votes, by the active citizens met 
in primary assemblies. . 

6. The same electors shall select from among the active 
citizens of each municipality, by scrutin de liste and plurality, 
four notables to perform the duties of assessors of the justice 
of the peace. This justice shall call upon those who shall be 



JUDICIAL SYSTEM DECREE 37 

selected in the municipality of the place where there is need 
for their assistance. 

8. The justices of the peace and the upright men shall be 
selected for two years and may be continued by re-election. 

9. The justice of the peace, assisted by two assessors, shall 
have jurisdiction with them over all cases dealing solely with 
persons and personal property, without appeal up to the value 
of fifty livres and subject to appeal up to the value of a hun- 
dred livres. . . . The legislatures shall not raise the 
amount of this competency. 

10. He has jurisdiction, likewise, without appeal up .to the 
value of fifty livres and subject to appeal at whatever value 
the complainant can prove. 

. [Here follow six classes of additional civil ac- 
tions.] 

12. The appeal from the judgments of the justice of the 
peace, when they are subject to appeal, shall be carried before 
the judges of the district and tried by them in the last resort 
in audience and summarily upon the simple writ of appeal. 

TITLE IV. OF THE JUDGES OF FIRST INSTANCE. 

I. There shall be established in each district a tribunal 
composed of five judges, with whom there shall be an officer 
charged with the functions of the public ministry. The sub- 
stitutes for them shall be four in number, of whom two at 
least shall be taken from within the city of the establishment 
or required to reside in it. 

4. The district judges shall have jurisdiction in the first 
instance over all personal, real estate, and mixed suits of every 
kind, except only those which have been declared above to be 
within the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace, commercial 
suits in the districts where there are no commercial tribunals 
established, and the litigious affairs of the municipal police 

5. The district judges have jurisdiction in first and last re- 
sort over all suits involving persons and personal property, up 
to the value of a thousand livres of principal, and over real 



38 JUDICIAL SYSTEM DECREE 

estate suits of which the chief item shall be of fifty livres of 
fixed revenue, either in income or in lease price. 



TITLE V. OF THE JUDGES OF APPEAL. 

I. The district judges shall be judges of appeal with re- 
spect to each other, according to the relations which shall 
be established in the following articles. 



TITLE X. OF THE PEACE BUREAUX AND THE FAMILY TRIBUNAL. 

1. In all matters which shall exceed the competency of the 
justice of the peace, this justice and his assessors shall form a 
bureau of peace and conciliation. 

2. No principal action in civil matters shall be received 
before the district judges between parties who shall all be 
domiciled in the jurisdiction of the same justice of the peace, 
whether in the city or in the country, unless the plaintiff gives 
at the head of his writ a copy of the certificate of the peace 
bureau attesting that his opponent has been summoned to no 
purpose to this bureau or that it has employed its mediation 
without result. 

12. If any dispute arises between husband and wife, father 
and son, grand- father and grand-son, brothers and sisters, 
nephews and uncles, or between kinsmen of the above degrees, 
as also between pupils and their tutors in matters relative to 
their tutelage, the parties shall be required to appoint kinsmen 
or, in their default, friends or neighbors, as arbiters before 
whom they shall explain their difference and who, after hav- 
ing heard them and having obtained the necessary knowledge, 
shall render a decision which includes a statement of the rea- 
sons for it. 

13. Each of the parties shall select two arbiters ; and if one 
of them refuses, the other may apply to the judge, who, after 
having authenticated the refusal, shall appoint official arbiters 
for the refusing party. When the four arbiters find themselves 
divided in opinion they shall choose an umpire to remove the 
division. 

14. The party which believes itself injured by the arbitral 



LETTER TO FOREIGN COURTS jq 

decision may appeal to the district tribunal, which shall pro- 
nounce in the last resort. 

TITLE XI. OF THE JUDGES IN THE MATTERS OF POLICE. 

I. The municipal bodies within the precincts of each mu- 
nicipality shall look to and supervise the execution of the laws 
and the police regulations and shall have jurisdiction over the 
litigation to which this execution may give rise. 

5. Contraventions of the police regulations shall be pun- 
ished only by one of these two penalties, either by condemna- 
tion to a pecuniary penalty or imprisonment by way of cor- 
rection for a time which in the most serious cases shall not ex- 
ceed three days in the country .and eight days in the cities. 

6. Appeals from the judgments in police matters shall be 
carried to the tribunal of the district and these judgments 
shall be executed provisionally, notwithstanding the appeal 
and without prejudice to it. 

TITLE XII. OF THE JUDGES IN MATTERS OF COMMERCE. 

1. There shall be established a commercial tribunal in the 
cities where the department administration, deeming these es- 
tablishments necessary, shall frame a request for them. 

2. This tribunal shall have jurisdiction of all commercial 
suits, both by land and sea, without distinction. 

7. The commercial judges shall be elected in the assembly 
of the merchants, bankers, traders, manufacturers, ship-owners 
and ship-captains of the city where the tribunal is established. 



10. Circular Letter of Louis XVI to Foreign Courts. 

April 23, 1791. Archives Parlementaires, XXV, 312-313. 

On April 18, 1791, Louis XVT was prevented from going to 
St. Cloud by the Paris crowds, who feared that he was trying to 
escape from the capital. This document, communicated to the 
Constituent Assembly as well as to the foreign courts, was ob- 
viously intended to quiet these fears and to conceal the King's 
preparations for flight. In connection with No. 12 A It did much 
to establish a firm belief in the King's insincerity. The views 



L 



^Q LETTER TO FOREIGN COURTS 

expressed, though certainly not the real views of the King, are of 
interest, as substantially those of Frenchmen loyal to the King 
0jid the Revolution alike. 

Refkrencb. Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 116-117. 

The King charges me to inform you that it is his most 
express wish that you should make known his sentiments upon 
the French Revolution and Constitution at the court where you 
reside. The ambassadors and ministers of France at all the 
courts of Europe are receiving the same directions, in order 
that there may not remain any doubt about the intentions, of 
His Majesty, or about the free acceptance which he has given 
to the new form of government, or about his irrevocable oath 
to maintain it. 

His Majesty convoked the States-General of the kingdom 
and determined in his Council that the Commons should have 
in it a number of deputies equal to that of the other two orders 
which then existed. This act of provisional legislation, which 
the obstacles of the moment did not permit to be made more 
favorable, announced sufficiently the desire of His Majesty to 
re-establish the nation in all of its rights. 

The States-General met and took the title of National As- 
sembly; soon a Constitution, qualified to secure the welfare of 
France and of the monarch, replaced the former order of 
things, in which the apparent power of the kingship only con- 
cealed the actual power of certain aristocratic bodies. 

The National Assembly adopted the form of representative 
government in conjunction with hereditary kingship. The leg- 
islative body was declared permanent; the election of clergy- 
men, administrators, and judges was made over to the people, 
the executive power was conferred upon the King, the form- 
ation of the law upon the Legislative Body, and the sanction 
upon the monarch. The public force, both internal and extern- 
al, was organized upon the same principles, and in accordance 
with the fundamental basis of the distinction of the powers: 
such is the new Constitution of the kingdom. 

What is called the Revolution is only the abolition of a mul- 
titude of abuses accumulated in the course of centuries through 
the error of the people or the authority of the ministers, which 
has never been the authority of the King. These abuses were 
not less disastrous to the monarch than to the nation ; under wise 



LETTER TO FOREIGN COURTS 4I 

reigns authority had not ceased to attack these abuses, hut was 
not able to destroy them. They no longer exist ; the sovereign 
nation has no longer any but citizens equal in rights, no despot 
but the law, no organs except the public functionaries, and the 
King is the first of these functionaries : such is the French 
Revolution. 

It was bound to have as enemies all those who in the first 
moment of error, on account of personal advantage, mourned 
for the abuses of the former government. From this comes 
the apparent division which has manifested itself within the 
kingdom, but which is enfeebled each day ; from this, also, per- 
haps, come some severe and exceptional laws which time will 
correct; but the King, whose real power is inseparable from 
that of the nation, who has no other ambition than the wel- 
fare of the nation nor any real authority other than that which 
is delegated to him ; the King was bound to agree without hes- 
itation to a happy Constitution which would regenerate at one 
and the same time his authority, the nation, and the monarchy. 
He has retained all bis authority, except the redoubtable power 
to make the laws ; he remains in charge of the negotiations 
with foreign powers, the task of defending the kingdom and 
of repulsing its enemies ; but the French nation henceforth will 
not have any enemies abroad exQfip,t-its aggressors. It no 
longer has internaf enemies except those who, still nourishing 
foolish hopes, believe that the will of 24,000,000 men entered 
again upon their natural rights, after having organized the 
kingdom in such a manner that only the memory of the old 
forms and former abuses remains, is not an immovable and ir- 
revocable Constitution. 

The most dangerous of these enemies are those who seek 
to spread doubts as to the intentions of the monarch : these 
men are indeed culpable or blind; they believe themselves the 
friends of the King; they are the only enemies of the mon- 
archy; they would have deprived the monarch of the love and 
confidence of a great nation, if his principles and probity had 
been less known. Ah ! What has the King not done to show 
that he counts both the French Revolution and the Constitution 
among his titles to glory. After having accepted and sanc- 
tioned all the laws he has not neglected any means to cause 
them to be executed. Even in the month of February last in 



42 



LETTER TO FOREIGN COURTS 



V 



the midst of the National Assembly, he promised to maintain 
them : he took an oath thereto in the presence of the general 
federation of the kingdom. Honored with the title of Restorer 
of French Liberty, he will transmit more than a crown to his 
son : he will transmit to him a constitutional monarchy. 

The enemies of the Constitution do not cease to repeat that 
the King is not happy, as if there could be for the King any 
other happiness than that of the people! They say that his 
authority is dishonored; as if authority founded upon force 
was not less powerful and more uncertain than the authority of 
the law ! In fine, that the King is not free : an atrocious 
calumny, if it is supposed that his will could be forced; an 
absurd one, if they take as lack of liberty the consent that 
His Majesty has several times expressed to remain in the midsi: 
of the citizens of Paris, a consent which he was bound to con- 
cede to their patriotism, even to their fears, and especially to 
their love. 

These calumnies, however, have penetrated even into foreign 
courts ; they have been repeated there by Frenchmen who have 
voluntarily exiled themselves from their fatherland, instead 
ot sharing its glory, and who, if they are not its enemies, have 
at least abandoned their posts as citizens. The King charges 
you, sir, to defeat their intrigues and their plans. These same 
calumnies, in spreading false ideas about the French Revolu- 
tion, have caused the intentions of French travelers to be sus- 
pected among several neighboring nations; and the King es- 
pecially recommends that you protect and defend them. Give, 
sir, the idea of the French Constitution which the King him- 
self has formed ; do not allow there to be any doubt about the 
intention of His Majesty to maintain it with all his power. 
In assuring the liberty and equality of the citizens, that Consti- 
tution founds the national prosperity upon the most enduring 
basis ; it consolidates the royal authority through the laws ; -t 
forestalls by a glorious revolution the revolution which the 
abuses of the former government would have soon caused to 
break forth, thus causing perhaps the dissolution of the Em- 
pire. Finally, it will be the happiness of the King. The task 
of justifying it, of defending it, and of taking it for the rule of 
your conduct, must be your first duty. 

I have already expressed several times the sentiments of 



INDUSTRIAL CORPORATIONS DECREE 43 

His Majesty in this matter; but after what has been reported 
to him of the opinion which is sought to be established in for- 
eign countries upon what has taken place in France, he has 
ordered me to charge you to communicate the contents of this 
letter to the court at which you are ; and in order to give it the 
utmost publicity, His Majesty has just ordered the printing 
of it. 

Signed, Montmorin. 

Paris, April 23, 1791. 



11. Decree for Abolishing the Industrial Corporations. 

June 14, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 22. 

By a decree of March 2, 1791, the Constituent Assembly abol- 
ished all of the vocation monopolies of the Old Regime and laid 
down the principle that "every person shall be free to engage in 
such business or to practice such profession, art or craft as he 
shall find profitable." This document is the complement of that 
decree. In it may be seen the intense feeling against the old vo- 
cation monopolies and the determination to secure an absolutely 
free field for individual activity. 

1. The suppression of all sorts of corporations of the cit- 
izens of the same calling and profession being one of the fun- 
damental bases of the French Constitution, the re-establlshment 
of them under any pretext or any form whatsoever is forbid- 
den. 

2. Citizens of a like calling or profession, employers, shop- 
keepers, workers and journeymen of a certain trade, shall not, 
when they shall meet together, name a president, or secretaries, 
or syndics, nor keep registers, noT pass resolutions or make 
decisions, nor form regulations for their so-called common in- 
terests. 

3. All the administrative or municipal bodies are forbidden 
to receive any address or petition under the denomination of a 
calling or profession or to make any response to such ; and they 
are enjoined to declare void the deliberations which may have 
been taken in that manner and to see to it carefully that no 
effect or execution be given to them. 

4. If, contrary to the principles of liberty and the consti- 
tution, citizens engaged in the 'Same professions, arts and crafts. 



(' 






44 INDUSTRIAL CORPORATIONS DECREE 

should hold deliberations or should make among themselves 
agreements which aim at refusing in concert or granting only 
at a settled price the assistance of their skill or their labors, 
the said decisions and agreements, whether accompanied by 
an oath or not, are declared unconstitutional, attacks upon lib- 
erty and the declaration of the rights of man, and of no effect ; 
the administrative and municipal bodies shall be required to 
declare them such. The authors, leaders and instigators who 
shall have provoked, drafted, or presided over them shall be 
cited before the police tribunal, at the request of the procureur 
of the commune, condemned to a fine of five hundred livres 
each and suspended from all the rights of active citizenship and 
of entrance into the primary assemblies. 

5. All administrative and municipal bodies are forbidden, 
on penalty of their members responding for it in their own 
names, to employ, to admit or suffer to be admitted to the 
labors of their professions in any public works those of the 
employers, workers, and journeymen who shall have suggested 
or signed the said deliberations or agreements, except in cas^i 
they have of their own motion presented themselves at the 
clerk's ofBce of the police tribunal in order to retract or dis- 
avow them. 

6. If the said deliberations or summons, posted placards 
or circular letters, contain any threats against the employers, 
artisans, workers, or foreign journeymen who shall come to 
work in the place, or against those who shall content them- 
selves with a lower compensation, all authors, instigators, and 
signatories of the documents or writings shall be punished by 
a fine of a thousand livres each and three months in prison. 

7. Those who shall use threats or violence against workers 
who use the liberty granted by the constitutional laws to labor 
and skill shall be prosecuted in a criminal way and punished, 
according to the severity of the laws, as disturbers of the pub- 
lic peace. 

8. All mobs composed of artisans, workers, journeymen, 
day laborers, or those incited by them against the free exer- 
cise of skill and labor, appertaining to every sort of person and 
under every kind of condition, arranged by mutual agreement, 
or against the action of the police and the execution of the 
judgments rendered in this matter, as well as against public 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 45 

sales and auctions of various enterprises, shall be deemed se- 
ditious mobs and as such shall be dispersed by the depositories 
of the public force, upon the legal requisition which shall be 
made upon them, and punished according to all the severity of 
the laws concerning the authors, instigators and leaders of the 
said mobs, and all those who shall have committed the real 
acts and deeds of violence. 



T2. Documents upon the King''s Flight. 

The flight of Louis XVI to Varennes was one of the most de- 
cisive events of the Revolution. Historical interest in it lies 
mainly along two lines. (1) It inspired a widespread distrust oi 
the King which none of his subsequent professions or lactions were 
able to remove. (2) The absence of the King from Paris forced 
upon the Constituent Assembly the task of devising a temporary 
government ; the regime then established had a large influence in 
determining the form of government employed after his deposition 
in 1792. Document A, which was left to be read after he had 
gone from Paris, in conjunction with No. 10, throws light upon 
the tirst of these. The remaining documents exhibit the character 
of the temporary government. 

Rkferencbs. Stephens, French Revolution, 1, Ch. xv ; Aulard, 
Revolution Francaise, Part I, Ch. v. 

A. The King's Declaration. June 20, 1791. Euchez and 
Roux, Histoire Parlementaire, X, 269-274. 

As long as the King was able to hope to see order and well- 
being rise again through the means employed by the National 
Assembly and by his residence near that Assembly, no sacrifice 
was too expensive ; he would not have even drawn any infer- 
ence from the lack of liberty, of which he has been deprived 
since the month of October, 1789; but today when the result of 
all the operations is to see the monarchy destroyed, property 
violated, the security of persons compromised, in all parts of 
the empire a complete anarchy, without any appearance of au- 
thority sufficient to arrest it, the King, after having protested 
against all the acts emanating from him during his captivity, 
believes that he ought to put before the eyes of the French a 
representation of his conduct. 

In the month of July, 1789, the King, secure in his con- 
science, did not fear to come among the Parisians. In the 
month of October of the same year, warned by the movements 



46 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 



V. 



of the factious, he feared that they would make a pretence of 
his departure to stir up civil war. Everybody is aware of th^ 
impunity with which crimes were then committed. The King, 
yielding to the view expressed by the army of the Parisians, 
came to establish himself at the chateau of the Tuileries. Noth- 
ing was ready to receive him; and the King, very far from 
finding the accommodations to which he was accustomed in his 
other residences, did not even meet with the comforts which 
persons in easy circumstances procure for themselves. 

Despite all the constraints, he believed that he ought from 
the morrow of his arrival to reassure the provinces about his 
sojourn at Paris. A more painful sacrifice was reserved for 
him : he was required to send away his body guards, whose 
fidelity he had proven. Two had been massacred, several had 
been wounded in carrying out the order not to fire which they 
had received. Every art of the factious was employed to 
cause to be considered in a bad light a faithful wife who was 
about to fill up the measure of her good conduct : it is like- 
wise evident that all the machinations were directed against 
the King himself. It was to the soldiers of the French guards 
and to the Parisian National Guard that the protection of the 
King was confided, under the orders of the municipality of 
Paris, from which the commanding general took his place. 

The King is thus seen a prisoner in his own dominions , for 
how could one be called otherwise who saw himself forcibly 
surrounded by persons whom he suspects ; it is not in order to 
inculpate the Parisian National Guard that I recall these de- 
tails , but in order to relate the exact truth ; on the contrary, 
I render justice to its attachment when it has not been led 
astray by the factious. The King ordered the convocation of 
the States-General, he granted to the Third Estate a double 
representation; the union of the orders, the sacrifices of the 
twenty-third of June, all that was his work; but his services 
have been misunderstood and misconstrued. The moment when 
the States-General gave itself the name of National Assembly, 
recalls the maneuvers of the factious in several provinces ; it 
recalls the movements which have been effected in order to 
nullify the provision of the cahiers, which provided that the 
drawing up of the laws should be done in concert with the 
King. The Assembly has put the King outside of the con- 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 



47 



stitutiorvin refusing to him the right to sanction the consti- 
tutional acts, in arranging in fhaE~"class those which it was 
pleased to arrange there, and in limiting to the third legisla- 
ture in any case refusal of sanction. They gave him 25,000,000 
which are entirely consumed by the expense that the pomp 
necessary for his household requires. They left to him the use 
of certain domains with embarrassing restrictions, thus depriv- 
ing him of the patrimony of his ancestors ; they took care not 
to include in his expenses the services rendered to the King, 
as if they were not inseparable from those rendered to the 
State. Let one examine the different points of the administra- 
tion and he VN^ill see that the King is removed from it : he has 
no part in the making of the laws ; he can only pray the As- 
sembly to occupy itself with such and such things. As to the 
administration of justice, he only causes the decrees of the 
judges to be forwarded and appoints the commissioners of the 
King, whose functions are indeed less considerable than those — 
of the former prociireurs-generaux. The public prosecution \ 
has been devolved upon new officers. There remained one last \ 
prerogative, the most attractive of all, that of pardon and of \ 

commuting penalties; you have taken it away from the King, 
it is now the jurors who have it, applying according to their 
will the sense of the law. This diminishes the royal majesty; 
the people were accustomed to have recourse there as to a com- 
mon centre of bounty and beneficence. The internal admin- 
istration within the departments is embarrassed by wheels 
which clog the movement of the machine ; the supervision of 
the ministers is reduced to nothing. 

The societies of the Friends of the Constitution are indeed 
stronger and render null all other actions. The King has been 
declared supreme head of the army, nevertheless all the bus- 
iness has been done by the committees of the National As- 
sembly without my participation; they have granted to the 
King the appointment to certain places, yet the choice which 
he has made has experienced opposition ; he has been obliged 
to revise the employment of the general officers of the army, 
because the choices were displeasing to the clubs ; it is to these 
alone that the greater part of the revolts of the regiments ought 
to be attributed; when the army no longer respects the officers, 
it is the terror and scourge of the State; the King has always 



48 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 




thought that the officers ought to be punished as the soldiers 
are, and that the aoors ought to be open to these latter to ob- 
tain promotions, according to their merit. As to foreign affairs, 
they have conceded to the King the appointment of the ambas - 
sadors and the conduct of the negotiations ; they have taken 
away from him the right to make war ; nevertheless they could 
not suspect that he would declare it without announcing its 
purpose. The right to make peace is of a wholly different kind. 
The King does not wish to act except at one with the nation, 
but what power will wish to enter into negotiations, wjien 
the right of revision is granted to the National As- 
sembly? Independently of the required secrecy, impossible to 
preserve in an assembly necessarily deliberating in public, they 
still like to treat only with a person who can, without any in- 
terference, conclude the contract. As to the finances, the King 
had recognized, prior to the States-General, the right -of the 
nation to grant the subsidies, and in this respect he had granted 
on the 23rd of June all that had been demanded. On the ist 
of February, the King prayed the Assembly to occupy itself 
with the finances ; it did so only slowly ; it has not yet the ex- 
act list of receipts and expenditures ; it has allowed itself to 
proceed upon hypothetical calculations ; the ordinary taxation 
is in arrears and the resource of twelve hundred millions of 
assignats is almost consumed ; it has left to the King, in this 
matter, only barren appointments ; he knows the difficulty of this 
administration ; and if it were possible that this machine could 
go on without his direct supervision, his majesty_wouM-JaDly 
regret tliaijiecould not diminish the imposts_which he desired 
and would have effected but for the Aniericanj^ar. 

The King has been declared the supreme head of the ad- 
ministration of the kingdom, yet he can change nothing with- 
out the decision of the Assembly. The leaders of the dominant 
party have exhibited such a defiance to the agents of the King, 
and the penalties inflicted upon the disobedient have given birth 
to so much uneasiness, that these agents have remained with- 
out authority. The form of government is especially vicious 
for two reasons : the Assembly exceeds the limit of its powers, 
in occupying itself with the administration of justice and in- 
ternal administration ; it exercises through its investigating com- 
mittees the moist barbarous of all despotisms. There have been 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 



49 



reestablished associations known under the name of the Friends of 
/ the Constitution, which are corp orations infm itdy more dan- 

"' gerous than the former oneS7 they denterateiipon all the con- 
cerns of the government, exercise a power so preponderant that 
all the bodies, not even excepting the National Assembly it- 
self, do nothing except by their order. The King does not 
think that it would be possible to preserve such a government ; 
the more they see approaching the end of the labors of the 
Assembly, the more wise men lose of their confidence in it. 
The nev/ regulations, instead of applying balm to the wounds, 
on the contrary aggravate the discontent ; the thousand news- 
papers and calumniating pamphlets, which are only the echoes 
of the clubs, perpetuate the disorder and the Assembly has 
never dared JcTremedy^ it ; they tend only to a government 
metaphysical and imgossi^ble in the execution. 

Frenchmen, is it this that you designed in sending your 
representatives? Do you desire that the despotism of the clubs 
should replace the monarchy under which the kingdom has 
prospered during fourteen hundred years ? The love of French- 
men for their King is reckoned among their virtues. I have 
had too many touching tokens of it to^ be able to forget it : the 
King would not offer the accompanying picture except to trace 
for his faithful subjects the spirit of the factious. The persons 
hired for the triumph of M. Necker did not make a show of 
pronouncing the name of the King ; at that time they pursued 
the Archbishop of Paris ; a courier of the King was stopped, 
searched, and the letters which he bore were broken open ; 
during this time the Assembly seemed to insult the King ; he 
was determined to carry to Paris words of peace; during his 
journey any cry of Vive le Roi was prevented from being 
heard. A proposal was even made toi carry him off and to put 
the Queen in a convent, and thi;: proposal was at the moment 
applauded. 

On the night of the 4th to the 5th [of October], when it 
was proposed to the Assembly to go to hold its sitting with 
the King, it replied that to transfer itself there was beneath its 
dignity; from that moment the c::enes of horror were renewed. 
On the arrival of the King at Paris, an innocent person was 
massacred almost under his eyes in the very garden of the 
Tuileries ; all those who have spoken against religion and the 



1 



1 



L 



i 



50 THE KING'S FLIGHT 

throne have received triumphal honors. At the federation of 
the 14th of July, the National Assembly declared that the King 
was its head; that was to assert that it could, in consequence, 
appoint another ; his family was put in a place apart from him- 
self ; nevertheless it was then that he passed the most pleasant 
moments of his sojourn at Paris. 

Afterwards when on account of religion, Mesdames [the 
King's aunts] wished to repair to Rome, this was opposed, 
despite the Declaration of Rights; they advanced to Bellevue 
and afterwards to Arnay-le-Duc where the command of the 
Assembly was required in order to permit them to proceed, 
those of the King having been treated with contempt. On the 
occasion of the riot which the factious incited at Vincennes, 
the persons who united under the King out of love for him were 
maltreated, and audacity was pushed even to the breaking be- 
fore the King of the arms of those who made themselves his 
guardians. Upon recovering from his illness he was disposed 
to go to St. Cloud ; he was stopped from paying the respect 
which one owes to the religion of his fathers ; the club of the 
Cordeliers even denounced him as a breaker of the law ; in 
vain M. de la Fayette did what he could to protect his depar- 
ture ; the faithful servants who surrounded him were torn away 
by violence and he was returned to his prison. Afterwards he 
was obliged to order the sending away of his clergy, to ap- 
prove the letter of the ministry to the foreign powers, and to go 
to the mass of the new cure of Saint-Germain I'Auxerrois. In 
consequence of all these considerations and the impossibility 
of preventing the evil, in which the King is, it is natural that 
he should have sought to place himself in safety. 

Frenchmen, and you who may be called inhabitants of the 
good city of Paris, distrust the suggestion of the factious, re- 
turn to your King, he will always be your friend, when your 
holy religion shall be respected, when the government shall 
be laid upon a firm footing, and liberty established upon an 
enduring foundation. 

Signed, Louis. 

Paris, June 20, 1791. 

P. S. — The King forbids his ministers signing any order in 
his name, until they have received further orders, and enjoins 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 51 

Upon the keeper of the seals to send the seal to him when it 
shall be required on his part. 

Signed, Louis. 

B. Decree for the Maintenance of Public Order. June 
21, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 52. 

The National Assembly declares to the citizens of Paris 
and to all the inhabitants of the empire, that the same firmness 
which it has exhibited in the midst of all the difficulties that 
have attended its labors will control its deliberations upon the 
occasion of the carrying away of the King and the royal family. 
It notifies all citizens that the maintenance of the constitution 
and the safety of the empire have never more imperatively de- 
manded good order and public tranquility; that the National 
Assembly has taken the most energetic measures to follow the- 
traces of those who have made themselves guilty of carrying 
away the King and the royal family; that, without interrupting 
its sittings, it will employ every means in order that the pub- 
lic interest may not suffer from that event; that all citizens 
ought to rely entirely upon it for the arrangements which the 
safety of the empire may demand; and that everything which 
may excite trouble, alarm individuals, or menace property, 
would be all the more culpable since thereby liberty and the 
constitution might be compromised. 

It orders that the citizens of Paris hold themselves in read- 
iness to act for the maintenance of public order and the de- 
fence of the fatherland, in accordance with the orders which 
will be given them in conformity with the decrees of the Na- 
tional Assembly. 

It orders the department administrators and the municipal 
officers to cause the present decree to be promulgated immedi- 
ately and to look with care to the public tranquility. 

C. First Decree for Giving Effect to the Measures of the 
Assembly. June 21, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 52. 

The National Assembly decrees provisionally and until it 
shall be otherwise ordered that the decrees rendered by it shall 
be carried into effect by the present ministers, and that the 
Minister of Justice is commanded to affix the seal of the State 
to them, unless there is need of the sanction or the acceptance 
of the King. 



52 THE KING'S FLIGHT 

D. Second Decree for Giving Effect to the Measures 
of the Assembly, June 22, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 53. 

The National Assembly decrees as follows : 

1. The decrees of the National Assembly already rendered 
which may not have been sanctioned or accepted by the King, 
as well as the decrees to be rendered which cannot be sanc- 
tioned or accepted, by reason of the absence of the King, shall 
nevertheless bear the name and have within the entire extent 
of the kingdom the force of laws, and the customary formula 
shall continue to be employed for them. 

2. The Minister of Justice is commanded to affix the seal 
of the State, unless there should be need of the sanction or the 
acceptance of the King, and to sign the drafts of the decrees 
which must be deposited in the national archives and in those 
of the chancellery, as well as the copies of the laws which must 
be sent to the tribunals and administrative bodies. 

3. The ministers are authorised to meet in order to form- 
ulate and sign collectively proclamations and other acts of the 
same nature. 

E. Decree upon the Oath of iVllegiance. June 22, 1791. 
Duvergier, Lois, III, 55- 

The National Assembly decrees as follows': 

1. That the oath ordered on June 11 and 13, the present 
month, shall- be taken in the following form : 

"I swear to employ the arms placed in my hands for the 
defence of the fatherland and to maintain against all its ene- 
mies within and without the constitution decreed by the Na- 
tional Assembly; to perish rather than to suffer the invasion 
of French territory by foreign troops, and to obey only the 
orders which shall be given in consequence of the decrees of 
the National Assembly." 

2. That commissioners, taken from within the body of the 
Assembly, shall be sent into the frontier departments in order 
to receive there the above-mentioned oath, a record of which 
shall be drawn up, and to concert there with the administrative 
bodies and the commanders of the troops the measures which 
they think suitable for the maintenance of public order and the 



THE KING'S FLIGHT 



53 



security of the State, and to make for that purpose all the 
necessary requisitions. 

F. Decree concerning the King. June 25, 1791. Du- 
vergier, Lois^ III, 64. 

I. As soon as the King shall have arrived at the chateau 
of the Tuileries he shall temporarily be given a guard, which, 
under the orders of the commanding general of the Parisian 
National Guard, shall look after his security and shall be re- 
sponsible for his person. 

5. Until it shall have been otherwise ordered, the decree 
rendered on the 21st of this month, which ordered the Minister 
of Justice to affix the seal of the State to the decrees of the 
National Assembly, unless there should be need of the sanc- 
tion or the acceptance of the King, shall continue to be car- 
ried out in all of its provisions. 

6. The ministers, the director of the Public Treasury, un- 
til the entrance into office of the commissioners of the Nation- 
al Treasury, the commissioner of tHe King for the extraordin- 
ary and liquidation fund are likewise authorised provisionally 
to continue to perform, each in his own department and 
under his responsibility, the functions of the executive power. 

G. The Protest of the Right. June 29, 1791. Buchez and 
Roux, Histoire Parlementaire, X, 433-437. 

The decrees of the National Assembly have united in it the 
whole royal power: the seal of the State has been deposited 
upon its table ; its decrees are rendered executory without hav- 
ing need of sanction ; it gives direct orders to all the agents of 
the executive power ; it causes to be taken in its name oaths in 
which Frenchmen do not even find the name of their king; 
commissioners who have received their commission from it 
alone travel over the provinces in order to receive the oaths 
which it requires and to give orders to the army: thus at the 
moment in which the inviolability of the sacred person of the 
monarch has been annihilated, the monarchy has been de- 



I 



54 THE PADUA CIRCULAR 

stroyed and even the semblance of royalty no longer exists: 
a republican interim is substituted for it. 



H. Decree concerning the King. July 16, 1791. Duver- 
gier, Lois III, 111-112. 

1. If the King, after having taken his oath to the consti- 
tution, retracts it, he shall be considered to have abdicated. 

2. If the King puts himself at the head of an army in order 
to direct its forces against the nation, or, if he orders his gen- 
erals to carry into effect such a project, or finally, if he does 
not by a formal act put himself in opposition to any action of 
that sort which may be conducted in his name, he shall be 
considered to have abdicated. 

3. A king who shall have abdicated, or who shall be 
considered to have done so, shall become a simple citizen and 
he shall be accusable, according to the customary forms, for 
all offences subsequent to his abdication. 

4. The effect of the decree of the 25th of last month, which 
suspends the exercise of the royal functions and the functions 
of the executive power in the hands of the King, shall continue 
only until the moment when, the constitution being completed, 
the entire constitutional act shall have been presented to thcr 
King. 



13. The Padua Circular. 

July 5 or 0, 1791. Vivenot, Kaiserpolitik Oestcrrcichs, 1, 185- 
186. 

This circular letter to the principal sovereigns of Europe was 
sent by the Ernperor,. Ljeopold II, as soon as he learned of the fail- 
ure of the King's flight. It was only the amplification of ideas 
which he had already broached in less formal communications. 
In France there was suspicion that efforts were being made to 
form such a concert as the circular suggests, but this document 
was kept a profound secret. None of the powers responded favor- 
ably, except Prussia. 

Referen-ces. Clapham, Causes of the War of 1792, 48-57 ; Sorel, 
L'Europe et la Revolution Francaise, II, 228-230. 

I am persuaded that Your Majesty will have learned of the 
unprecedented outrage of the arrest of the King of France, 



THE PADUA CIRCULAR 



55 



of my sister the Queen, and of the royal family, with as much 
surprise ah^d^rrKfi^natiQn as I have, 'and that your sentiment? 
cannot differ from mine upon an event which, causing fear of 
the most horrible results yet to come and implanting the seal 
of illegality upon the excesses wEich Tiave previously taken 
place in France, compromises directly the honor of all the sov- 
ereigns and the safety of all the governments. 

Determined to carry into effect what I owe to these con- 
siderations, and as head of the Germ anic Bod y by its selection, 
and as sovereign of the Austrian States, I propose to the 
Kings of Spain_Englancl, Prussia, Naples, _and_Sardinia, as 
well as to the Empress of Russia, to determine to unite among 
themselves and with me for counsel, co-operation and meas- 
ures, in order to restore the liberty and honor of the. Most 
Christian King and of his family and to put limits to the dan- 
gerous extremities of the French revolution. 

The most pressing [measure] seems to be that we should 
all unite in order to cause to be delivered by our ministers in 
France a common declaration, or similar and simultaneous 
declarations, which may cause the leaders of the violent party 
to come to themselves and may prevent desperate resolutions, 
still leaving open to them> ways for an honest repentance and the 
pacific establishment of a state of things in France which pre- 
serves at least the dignity of the crown and the essential con- 
siderations of the general tranquility, and I propose for that 
purpose to Your Majesty the draft which you will find an- 
nexed and which appears to me to accomplish these aims. 

But as the success of such a declaration may be problem- 
atical, and as one can promise complete success only on condi- 
tion of being ready to sustain it by sufficiently respectable 
means, my minister to Your Majesty will receive immediately 
the necessary instructions to enter with your minister upon 
such concert of vigorous measures as the circumstances may 
demand, reserving to myself to cause him to communicate also 
the replies which I shall receive from the other Powers, as 
soon as they shall have reached me. 

I regard as an infinitely precious advantage that the dis- 
positions which they all manifest for the re-establishment of 
repose and harmony promise to remove the obstacles which 
might be injurious to unanimity of views and sentiments about 



56 THE PADUA CIRCULAR 

an occurrence which involves closely the well being of all 
Europe. 

Signed, Leopold. 

Project of the Common Declaration. 

Padua, July 5 or 6, T791. 

The undersigned are charged to make known what follows 
on the part of their respective sovereigns : 

That, notwithstanding the notorious deeds of constraint and 
violence which have preceded and followed the acts of consent 
granted by the King of France to the decrees of the National 
Assembly, they had nevertheless still wished to suspend their 
opinion upon the degree to which that consent represented or 
did not represent the conviction and free will of His Most 
Christian Majesty; but the effort undertaken by that prince to 
/ set himself at liberty, being a most manifest proof of the 

state of confinement in which he formerly found himself, no 
longer left any doubt that he had been made to do violence 
to his religion in several respects, at the same time that the last 
attack in his actual arrest and that of the Queen, the Dauphin 
and Madame Elizabeth, inspires just alarms about the ultimate 
projects of the dominant party; 

That the said sovereigns cannot delay any longer to mani- 
I fest the sentiments and resolutions which in this state of things 

I the honor of their crowns, the ties of blood, and the main- 

\^ tenance of the public order and tranquility of Europe require 

of them : they have ordered their undersigned ministers to de- 
clare : 

That they ask that this prince and his family ma}^ be im- 
mediately put at liberty and they claim for all these royal per- 
sons the inviolability and respect which the law of nature and 
men imposes upon subjects towards their princes; 

That they will unite in order to avenge in a striking man- 
ner subsequent attacks which may be committed or may be 
allowed to be committed against the securit\;, the person and 
honor of the King, Queen, and roj^al family; 

That, finally, they will recognize as law and constitution 
legally established in France only those which they shall find 
provided with the voluntary consent of the King, in enjoyment 
of a perfect liberty; but that in the contrary case, they will 



THE DECLARATION OF PILNITZ 



S7 



employ in concert all the means placed in their power to cause 
to cease the scandal of a usurpation of power which bears the 
character of an open revolt, and of which it is important for all 
governments to check the disastrous example. 



14. The Declaration of Pilnitz. 

August 27, 3 791. Vivenot, KaiserpoUtiJc Oesterreiclis, I, 234. 
Translation, James Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania 
Translations and Reprints. 

Tliis document was the only direct result of No. 13, It seems 
certain that the signatories, the sove^eigas^^f Austria and Prus- 
sia, attached but little importance to it. For them the qualify- 
ing words were the emphatic ones. This, however, was not thor- 
oughly understood in France, and a little liater the declaration 
was an important factor in persuading the French people that they 
must light Europe in order To^'^^vent interference with the course 
of the Revolution in France. 

Refebences. Claphara, Causes of tJie War of 1192, 76-82 ; Von 
Sybel, French Revolution, 361-368 ; Sorel, U Europe et la Revolu- 
tion FrancaisCj I, 252-264. 



His Majesty, the Emperor, and his Majesty, the King of 
Prussia,-^ having given attention to the wishes and representa- 
tions of Monsieur (the brother of the King of France), and 
of M. le Comte d'Artois, jointly declare that they regard the 
present situatTon""of his majesty the King of France, as a 
matter of common interest t o^alf The "so ve reigns of Europe. 
They trust that this interest will not fail to be recognized by 
the powers, whose aid is solicited^" and that in consequence 
they will not refuse to employ, in conjunction with their said 
majesties, the most efficient means in proportion to their re- 
sources to place the King of France in a position to establish, 
with the most absolute freedom, the foundations of a monar- 
chical form of government, which shall at once be in harmony 
with the rights ot sovereigns and promote the welfare of the 
French nation. In that case \Alors et dans ce cas] their said 
majesties the Emperor and the King of Prussia are resolved 
to act promptly and in common accord with the forces neces- 
sary to obtain the desired "common end. 

In the meantime they will give such orders to their troops 



58 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

as are necessary in order that these may be in a position to hz 
called into active service. 

Leopold. Frederick William. 
P Unit 2, August 27, 1 79 1. 



15. Constitution of 1791. 

September 3, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 239-255. 

This constitution represents a large part of the labors of the 
Constituent Assembly. Many of its provisions had already been 
put into operation by separate decrees. It was given its final 
shape during the ten weeks following the return of the King to 
Paris and shows many traces of the conservative reaction of that 
period. A careful study of it will throw light upon many features 
of the Revolution. 

References. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Oenerale, VIII, 
73-79. Of contemporary estimates the most famous are Burke's 
Reflections on the Revolution in France (a strongly adverse view), 
and Mackintosh's reply, Vindiciae Gallicae, or Defence of the 
French Revolution. 

Decxaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. 

The representatives of the French people, organized in 
National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness 
or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of the 
public miseries and of the corruption of governments, have 
resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, in- 
alienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declara- 
tion, being ever present to all the members of the social body, 
may unceasingly remind them of their rights and their duties : 
in order that the acts of the legislativepoweTa'ncriliose of the 
executive power may be each moment compared with the aim 
of every political institution and thereby may be more respect- 
ed; and in order that the demands of the citizens, grounded 
henceforth upon simple and incontestable principles, may al- 
ways take the direction of maintaining the constitution and the 
welfare of all. 

In consequence, the National Assembly recognizes and de- 
clares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme 
Being, the following rights of man and citizen. 

I. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. So- 
cial distinctions can be based only upon public utility. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 59 

2. The aim of every polkical association is the preserva- 
tion of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These 
rights arg_Jiberty, property, s ecurit y, and resistan ce to op- 
pression. *""" '--='^=*' ..„-— ^ j",,...,...^ 

3.— Tire source of all sovereignty is essentially in the na- 
tion; no body, no individual can exercise authority that does 
not proceed from it ii^lain terms. P^O^Asf 

4. Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does ""f 
not injure others; accordingly, the exercise of the natural j 
rights of each man has for its only limits those that secure 

to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same 
rights. These limits can be determined only by law. 

5. The law has the right to forbid only such actions as 
are injurious to society. Nothing can be forbidden that is 
not interdicted by the law and no one can be constrained to 
do that which it does not order. 

6. Law is the expression of the general will. All citi- 
zens have the right to take part personally or by their repre- 
sentatives in its formation. It must be the same for all, wheth- 
er it protects or punishes. All citizens being equal in its eyes, 
are equally eligible to all public dignities, places, and employ- 
ments, according to their capacities, and without other dis- 
tinction than that of their virtues and their talents. 

7. No man can be accused, arrested, or detained except in \ 
the cases determined by the law and according to the forms 
that it has prescribed. Those who procure, expedite, execute, 
or cause to be executed arbitrary orders ought to be punished : 
but every citizen summoned or seized in virtue of the law 
ought to render instant obedience; he makes himself guilty by 
resistance. 

8. The law ought to establish only penalties that are strict- 
ly and obviously necessary and no one can be punished except 
in virtue of a law established and promulgated prior to the 
offence and legally applied. 

9. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been —7 
pronounced guilty, if it is thought indispensable to arrest 

him, all severity that may not be necessary to secure his per- \ 

son ought to be strictly suppressed by law. ^r^ — 

10. No one ought to be disturbed on account of his opin- I 



/ 



6o CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

ions, even religious, provided their manifestation does not 
derange the public order established by law. 

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one 
of the most precious of the rights of man; every citizen then 
can freely speak, write, and print, subject to responsibility 
for the abuse of this freedom in the cases determined by law. 

12. The guarantee of the rights of man and citizen re- 
quires a public force; this force then is instituted for the ad- 
vantage of all and not for the personal benefit of those to 
whom it is entrusted. 

13. For the maintenance of the public force and for the 
expenses of administration a general tax is indispensable ; it 
ought to be equally apportioned among all the citizens accord- 
ing to their means. 

14. All the citizens have the right to ascertain, by them- 
selves or by their representatives, the necessity of the public 
tax, to consent to it freely, to follow the employment of it, 
and to determine the quota, the assessment, the collection, and 
the duration of it. 

15. Society has the right to call for an account from every 
public agent of its administration. 

16. Any society in which the guarantee of the rights is 
not secured or the separation of powers not determined has 
no constitution at all. 

17. Property being a sacred and inviolable right, no one 
can be deprived of it unless a legally established public neces- 
sity evidently demands it, under the condition of a just and 
prior indemnity. 



French Constitution. 

The National Assembly, wishing to establish the French 
Constitution upon the principles that it has just recognized 
and declared, abolishes irrevocably the institutions that have 
injured liberty and the equality of rights. 

There is no longer nobility, nor peerage, nor hereditary 
distinctions, nor distinction of orders, nor feudal regime, nor 
patrimonial jurisdictions, nor any titles, denominations or 
prerogatives derived therefrom, nor any order of chivalry, nor 
any corporations or decorations which demanded proofs of 
nobility or that were grounded upon distinctions of birth, nor 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 6l 

any superiority other than that of public officials in the exer- 
cise of their functions. 

There is no longer either sale or inheritance of any public 
office. 

There is no longer for any part of the nation nor for any 
individual any privilege or exception to the law that is com- 
mon to all Frenchmen. 

There are no longer jurandes, nor corporations of profes- 
sions, arts, and crafts. 

The law no longer recognizes religious vows nor any other 
obligation which may be contrary to natural rights or the 
constitution. 

TITLE I. FUNDAMENTAL PROVISIONS GUARANTEED BY THE 
CONSITTUTION. 

The constitution guarantees as natural and civil rights : 

1. That all the citizens are eligible to offices and employ- 
ments without any other distinction than that of virtue and 
talent; 

2. That all the taxes shall be equally apportioned among '^ 
■all the citizens in proportion to their means. 

3. That like offences shall be punished by like penalties, 
without any distinction of persons. 

The constitution likewise guarantees as natural _ajid, civil 
rights : 

Liberty to every man to move about, to remain^ and to de- 
part without liability to arrest or detention, except according 
to the forms determined by the constitution ; 

Liberty to every manto^ speak, tg,_w;ritey to print and pub- 
lish his ideas without having his writings subjected to any 
censorship or inspection before theTr"publication, and to fol- 
low the religious worship to which he is attached; 

Liberty to the citizens to meet peaceably and without arms, 
in obedience to the police laws ; 

Liberty to address individually signed petitions to the con- 
stituted authorities. 

The legislative power cannot m.ake any law that attacks 
and impedes the exercise of the natural and civil rights con- 
tained in the present title and guaranteed by the constitution; 
but as liberty consists only in the power to do anything that 



k. 



V 



62 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

is not injurious 10 the rights of others or to the public secur- 
ity, the law can establish penalties against acts which, in at- 
tacking the public security or the rights of others, may be 
injurious to society. 

The constitution guarantees the inviolability of property or 
a just and prior indemnity for that of which a legally estab- 
lished public necessity may demand the sacrifice. 

Property intended for the expenses of worship and for all 
services of public utility belongs to the nation and is at all 
times at its disposal. ^ . 

The constitution guarantees the alienations that have 'been 
or that shall be made under the forms established by law. 

The citizens have the right to elect or choose the ministers 
of their religious sects. 

There shall be created and organized a general establish- 
ment of public relief to bring up abandoned children, to relieve 
infirm paupers, and to provide work for the able-bodied poor 
who may not have been able to obtain it for themselves. 

There shall be created and organized a system of public 
instruction, common to all citizens, gratuitous as regards the 
parts of education indispensable for all men, and whose es- 
tablishments shall be gradually distributed in accordance with 
the division of the kingdom. 

There shall be established national fetes to preserve the 
memory of the French Revolution, to maintain fraternity 
\ among the citizens, and to attach them to the constitution, the 
fatherland, and the laws. 

A code of civil laws common to all the kingdom shall be 
made. 

TITLE II. OF THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM AND OF THE 
CONDITION OF THE CITIZENS. 

1. The kingdom is one and indivisible; its territory is di- 
vided into eighty-three departments, each department into dis- 
tricts, each district into cantons. 

2. French j:itizens are : 

Those who argjborn, in .France of a Fretteh- father; 
Those who, born in France of a foreign father, have fixed 

their residence in the kingdom; 

Those who, born in a foreign country of a French father, 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 ^^ 

have become established in France and have taken the civic 
oathj__ 

Lastly, those who, born in a foreign country and descend- 
ed in any degree whatsoever from a French man or a French 
woman expatriated on account of religion, may come to live 
in France and take the civic oath, 

3. Those residing in France, who were born outside of 
the kingdom from foreign parents, become French citizens 
after five years of continued domicile in the kingdom, if they 
have in addition acquired real estate or iparried a French 
woman, or formed an agricultural or commercial establish- 
ment, and have taken the civic oath. 

4. The legislative power shall be able, for important con- 
siderations, to give to a foreigner a certificate of naturaliza- 
tion without other conditions than the fixing of his domicile' 
in France and the taking of the civic oath. 

5. The civic oath is : / swear to he faithful to the nation, * 
the law, and the King, and to maintain with all my power the 
constitution of the kingdom decreed by the National Con- 
stituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, and 1791. 

6. The title to French citizenship is lost: / 
1st. By naturalization in 3: foreign country; ^ 

2d. By condemnation to the penalties which involve^""! 
civic degradation, as long as the condemned is not rehabilitat- ! 
ed; 

3d. By a judgment of contempt of court, as long as the 
judgment is not annulled ; 

4th. By affiliation with any foreign order of knighthood, 
or with any_ foreign organization which may imply proofs of 
nobility or distinctions of birth, or which may demand religious 
vows. 

7.'"The law considers marriage as only a civil contract. 

The legislative poweF slralt""estabKsh"fof ' all inhabitants, 
without distinction, the manner in which births, marriages, 
and deaths shall be recorded and it shall designate the public 
officers who shall receive and preserve the records thereof. 

8. The French citizens, considered in their local relations 
arising from their union into cities and into certain districts 
of rural territory, form communes. 

The legislative power shall fix the extent of the district 
of each commune. 



64 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

9, The citizens who compose each commune have the 
right to elect at stated times and according to the forms fixed 
by law those among themselves, who, under the title of muni- 
cipal oMcers, are charged to carry on the particular affairs of 
the commune. 

Some functions related to the interests of the State can be 
delegated to the municipal officers. 

10. The regulations which the municipal officers shall be 
required to follow in the exercise of their municipal functions, 
as well as those which have been delegated to them for the 
general interest, shall be fixed by the laws. 

TITLE III. OF THE PUBLIC POWERS. 

1. Sovereignty is one, indivisible, inalienable, and im- 
prescriptible : it belongs to the nation : no section of the peo- 
ple nor any individual can attribute to himself the exercise 
thereof. 

2. The nation, from which alone emanates all the powers, 
can exercise them only by delegation. 

The French constitution is representative; the representa- 
tives are the Legislative Body and the King. 

3. The legislative power is delegated to one National As- 
sembly, composed of temporary representatives freely elected 
by the people, in order to be exercised by it with the sanction 
of the King in the manner which shall be determined here- 
inafter. 

4. The government is monarchical : the . executive power 
is delegated to the King, in order to be exercised under his 
authority by ministers and other responsible agents, in the 
manner which shall be determined hereinafter. 

5. The judicial power is delegated to judges elected at 
stated times by the people. 

Chapter I. Of the National Legislative Assembly. 

1. The National Assembly, forming the Legislative Body, 
is permanent and is composed of only one chamber. 

2. It shall be formed every two years by new elections. 
Each period of two years shall constitute a legislature. 

3. The provisions of the preceding article shall not oper- 
ate with respect to the next Legislative Body, whose powers 
shall cease the last day of April, 1793. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 65 

4. The renewal of the Legislative Body takes place with 
perfect right. 

5. The Legislative Body shall not be dissolved by the King, 

Section L Number of the representatives. — Basis of re- 
presentation. 

1. The number of representatives in the Legislative Body 
is seven hundred and forty-five, by reason of the eighty-three 
departments of which the realm is composed, and independ- 
ently of those who may be granted to the colonies. 

2. The representatives shall be distributed among the 
eighty-three departments according to the three proportions 
of territory, population, and direct tax. 

3. Of the seven hundred and forty-five representatives, 
two hundred and forty- seven are accredited for territory. 

Each department shall select three of these, with the ex- 
ception of the department of Paris which shall select but one. 

4. Two hundred and forty-nine are accredited for popula- 
tion. 

The total mass of the population of the kingdom is divided 
into two hundred and forty-nine parts, and each department 
selects as many deputies as it has parts of population. 

5. Two hundred and forty-nine representatives are ac- 
credited for the direct tax. 

The sum total of the direct tax of the kingdom is likewise 
divided into two hundred and forty-nine parts, and each de- 
partment selects as many deputies as it pays parts of the tax. 

Section IL Primary assemblies. — Selection of the electors. 

1, In order to form the National Legislative Assembly 
the active citizens shall meet every two years in primary as- 
semblies in the cities and cantons. 

The primary assemblies shall constitute themselves with 
perfect right on the second Sunday of March, if they have 
not been convoked earlier by the public functionaries determ- 
ined by the law. 

2. In order to be an active citizen it is necessary to be 
born or to become a Frenchman ; to be fully twenty-five years 
of age ; to be domiciled in the city or in the canton for the 
time fixed by the law; 




L 



65 COTS' STITUTION OF 1791 

To pay in some place of the kingdom a direct tax at the 
least equal to the value of three days of labor, and to present 
the receipt therefor ; 

Not to be in a state of domestic service, that is to say, 
not to be a servant for wages ; 

To be registered upon the roll of the national guards in the 
municipality of his domicile; 

To have taken the civic oath. 

3. Every six years the Legislative Body shall fix the niin- 
inium and the maximum of the value of a day's labor, and the 
department administrators shall make the local determihation 
thereof for each department. 

4. No one shall be able to exercise the rights of an active 
citizen in more than one place" or to cause himself to be repre- 
sented by another. 

5. The following are excluded from the exercise of the 
rights of active citizenship : 

Those who are under indictment ; 
" Those who, after having been declared to be in a state of 
bankruptcy or insolvency, proven by authentic documents, do 
not procure a general discharge from their creditors. 

6. The primary assemblies shall select electors in propor- 
tion to the number of active citizens domiciled in the city or 
canton. 

There shall be one elector selecteo by virtue of one hundred 
active citizens, whether present at the assembly or not. 

There shall be two selected for one hundred and fifty-one 
up to two hundred, and so on. 

7. No one can be chosen an elector if he does not unite 
with the conditions necessary to be an active citizen, the fol- 
lowing : 

In the cities over six thousand souls, that of being proprie- 
tor or usufructuary of an estate valued upon the tax rolls at a 
at a revenue equal to the local value of two hundred days of 
labor, or of being the occupant of a habitation valued upon the 
same rolls at a revenue equal to the value of a hundred and 
fifty days of labor; 

In cities under six thousand souls that of being proprietor 
or usufructuary of an estate valued upon the tax rolls at a 
revenue equal to the local value of a hundred and fifty days 



CONSTITUTION OP 1791 67 

of labor, or of being the occupant of a habitation valued upon 
the same rolls at a revenue equal to the value of a hundred 
days of labor. 

And in the country, that of being the proprietor or usu- 
fructuary of an estate valued upon the tax rolls at a revenue 
equal to the local value of one hundred and fifty days of labor, 
or that of being the farmer or metayer of estates valued upon 
the same rolls at the value of four hundred days of labor. 

With respect to those who shall at the same time be pro- 
prietors or usufructuaries for one part and occupants, farmers 
or metayers for another, their means by these different titles 
shall be cumulated up to the amount necessary to establish 
their eligibility. 

Section III. Electoral assemblies. — Selection of repre- 
sentatives. 

1. The electors chosen in each department shall assemble 
in order to elect the number of representatives whose selection 
shall be assigned to their department and a number of sub- 
stitutes equal to a third of that of the representatives. 

The electoral assemblies shall constitute themselves with 
perfect right on the last Sunday in March, if they have not 
been convoked earlier by the public functionaries determined 
by the law. 

2. The representatives and the substitutes shall be elected 
by majority of the votes, and they shall be chosen only from 
among the active citizens of the department. 

3. All active citizens, whatever their condition, profession, 
or tax, can be elected representatives of the nation. 

4. Nevertheless, the ministers and the other agents of the 
executive power removable at pleasure, the commissioners of 
the national treasury, the collectors and receivers of the direct 
taxes, the overseers of the collection and administration of the 
indirect taxes and the national domains, and those who, un- 
der any denomination whatsoever, are attached to the military 
and civil household of the King, shall be obliged to choose 
[between their offices and that of representative]. 

The administrators, sub-administrators, municipal officers, 
and commandants of the national guards shall likewise be re- 
quired to choose [between their offices and that of represent- 
ative]. 



58 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

5. The exercise of judicial functions shall be incompatible 
with that of representative of the nation for the entire duration 
of the legislature. 

The judges shall be replaced by their substitutes, and the 
King shall provide by oommissionary warrants for 'the replac- 
ing of his commissioners before the tribunals. 

6. The members of the Legislative Body can be re-elected 
to the following legislature, and they can be elected thereafter 
only after the interval of one legislature. 

7. The representatives selected in the departments shall 
not be the representatives of one particular department," but 
of the entire nation, and no instructions can be given them. 

Section IV. Meeting and government of the primary elec- 
toral assemblies. 

I. The functions of the primary and electoral assemblies 
are confined to election; they shall separate immediately after 
the elections have taken place and they shall not form them- 
selves again unless they shall be convoked, except in the case 
of the I St article of section II and of the ist article of section 
III above. 

/" 2. No active citizen can enter or cast his vote in an as- 

^ sembly, if he is armed. 

3. The armed force shall not be introduced into its midst 
without the express wish of the assembly, unless violence is 
committed there; in that case the order of the president shall 
suffice to summon the public force. 

4. Every two years there shall be drawn up in each dis- 
trict lists by cantons of the active citizens, and the list of each 
canton shall be published and posted there two months before 
the date of the primary assembly. 

The complaints which shall arise, either to contest the 
qualifications of the citizens placed upon the list or on the part 
of those who shall allege that they are unjustly omitted, shall 
be brought before the tribunals in order to be passed upon 
there summarily. 

The list shall serve as the rule for the admission of the cit- 
izens in the next primary assembly in everything that shall not 
have been rectified by the judgments rendered before the hold- 
ing of the assembly. 



CONSTITUTION OP 1791 



69 



5. The electoral assemblies have the right to verify the 
qualifications and the powers of those who shall present them- 
selves there, and their decisions shall be carried out provision- 
ionally, saving the judgment of the Legislative Body at the 
time of the verification of the powers of the deputies. 

6. In no case and under no circumstances shall the King 
or any of the agents appointed by him be able to assume jur- 
isdiction over questions relative to the regularity of the con- 
vocations, to the holding of the assemblies, to the form of the 
elections, or to the political rights of the citizens, without 
prejudice to the functions of the commissioners of the King 
in the cases determined by the law where questions relative to 
the political rights of citizens must be brought ^before the 
tribunals. 

Section V. Meeting of the representatives in National 
Legislative Assembly. 

1. The representatives shall meet on the first Monday of 
the month of May in the place of the sittings of the last legis- 
lature. 

2. They shall form themselves provisionally in assembly 
under the presidency of the oldest member in point of age, 
in order to verify the powers of the representatives present. 

3. As soon as there shall be verified members to the num- 
ber of three hundred and seventy-three they shall constitute 
themselves under the title of National Legislative Assembly; 
it shall name a president, a vice-president, and secretaries, 
and shall begin the exercise of its functions. 

4. During the entire course of the month of May, if the 
number of the representatives present is under three hundred 
and seventy-three, the Assembly shall not be able to perform 
any legislative act. 

It can pass an order requiring the absent members to re- 
pair to their duties within the period of fifteen days at the lat- 
est, upon penalty of 3,000 liz'tes fine, if they do not present an 
excuse which shall be pronounced legitimate by the Assembly. 

5. On the last day of May, whatever may be the number 
of the members present, they shall constitute themselves into 
National Legislative Assembly. 

6. The representatives shall pronounce in unison, in the 
name of the French people, the oath to live free or to die. 



70 



CONSTITUTION OF 179i 




They shall afterwards individually take the oath to main- 
tain with all their power the constitution of the kingdom, de- 
creed by the National Constituent Assembly, in the years 1789, 
1790, and 1791; and not to propose nor to consent within the 
course of the legislature to anything which can injure it, and 
to be in everything faithful to the nation, the laiv, and the 
King. 

7. The representatives of the nation are inviolable : they 
cannot be questioned, accused, nor tried at any time for what 
they have said, written, or done in the exercise of their, func- 
tions as representatives, 

8. They can, for criminal acts, be seized in the very act 
or in virtue of a warrant of arrest ; but notice shall be given 
thereof without delay to the Legislative Body; and the pros- 
ecution can be continued only after the Legislative Body 
shall have decided that there is occasion for accusation. 

Chapter IL Of the Royalty, the Regency, 
and the Ministers. 
Section I, Of the royalty and the King. 

1. Royalty is indivisible and is delegated hereditarily to 
the ruling family, from male to male, by order of primogeni- 
ture, to the perpetual exclusion of females and their descend- 
ants. 

(Nothing is presumed about the effect of renunciations in 
the actually ruling family.) 

2. The person of the King is inviolable, and sacred : his 
only title is King of the French. 

3. There is no authority in France superior to that of the 
law ; the King reigns only by it and it is only in the name of 
the law that he can demand obedience. 

4. The King, upon his accession to the throne or as soon 
as he shall have attained his majority, shall take to the na- 
tion, in the presence of the Legislative Body, the oath to be 
faithful to the nation and the law, to employ all the power 
which is delegated to him to maintain the constitution decreed 
by the National Constituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, 
and 1791, and to cause the laws to be executed. 

If the legislative body is not assembled ihe King shall 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 71 

cause a proclamation to be published, in which shall be set 
forth this oath and the promise to reiterate it as soon as the 
Legislative Body shall assemble. 

5. If, one month after the invitation of the Legislative 
Body, the King shall not have taken this oath, or if, after hav- 
ing taken it, he retracts it, he shall be considered to have abdi- 
cated the royalty. 

6. If the King puts himself at the head of an army and 
directs the forces thereof against the nation, or if he does not 
by a formal instrument place himself in opposition to any such 
enterprise which may be conducted in his name, he shall be 
considered to have abdicated the royalty. 

7. If the King, having left the kingdom, should not return 
after the invitation which may be made to him for that pur- 
pose by the Legislative Body and within the period which shall 
be fixed by the proclamation, which cannot be less than tv»^o 
months, he shall be considered to have abdicated the royalty. 

The period shall begin to run from the day when the pro- 
clamation of the Legislative Body shall have been published in 
the place of its sittings ; and the ministers shall be required 
under their responsibility to perform all the acts of the ex- 
ecutive power, whose exercise shall be suspended in the hands 
of the absent King. 

8. After the express or legal abdication, the King shall be 
in the class of citizens and can be accused and tried like them 
for acts subsequent to his abdication. 

9. The individual estates which the King possesses upon 
his accession to the throne are irrevocably united tO' the do- 
main of the nation: he has the disposal of those which he ac- 
quires by personal title ; if he does not dispose of them they 
are likewise united at the end of the reign. 

10. The nation provides for the splendor of the throne by 
r. civil list, of which the Legislative Body shall determine the 
sum at each change of reign for the entire duration of the 
reign. 

11. The King shall appoint an administrator of the civil 
list, who shall conduct the judicial actions of the King, and 
against whom all the actions against the King shall be direct- 
ed and judgments pronounced. The judgments obtained by the 



72 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

creditors of the civil list shall be executory against the admin- 
istrator personally and upon his own estates. 

12. The King shall have, independently of the guard of 
honor which shall be furnished him by the citizen national 
guards of the place of his residence, a guard paid out of the 
funds of the civil list ; it shall not exceed the number of 
twelve hundred infantrymen and six hundred cavalrymen. 

The grades and the regulations for promotion in it shall be 
the same as in the troops of the line ; but those who shall com 
pose the guard of the King shall advance for all the grades ex- 
clusively among themselves, and they cannot obtain any of 
those in the army of the line. 

The King can choose the men of his guard only from 
among those who are actually in active service in the troops 
of the line, or from among the citizens who for a year past 
have done service as national guards, provided they be resi- 
dents of the kingdom and have previously taken the civic oath. 

The guard of the King cannot be ordered or requisitioned 
for any other public service. 

Section II. Of the regency. 

1. The King is a minor until he is fully eighteen years old; 
and during his minority there is a regent of the kingdom. 

2. The regency belongs to the kinsman of the King near- 
est in degree, according to the order of inheritance to the 
throne, and fully twenty-five years of age, provided that he be 
French and native born, that he be not heir presumptive of an- 
other crown, and that he has previously taken the civic oath. 

Women are excluded from the regency. 

3. If a minor King has no kinsman uniting the qualifica- 
tions above set forth, the regent of the kingdom shall be elect- 
ed as provided in the following articles. 

4. The Legislative Body cannot elect the regent. 

5. The electors of each district shall meet at the head- 
town of the district, according to a proclamation which shall 
be made in the first week of the new reign by the Legislative 
Body, if it is assembled ; and if it is separated, the minister of 
justice shall be required to is.-'ue this proclamation within the 
same week. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 . 73 

6. The electors in each district shall appoint, by individual 
ballot and majority of the votes, an eligible citizen 
domiciled within the district, to whom they shall give, by the 
minutes of the election, a special mandate limited to the single 
function of electing the citizen whom he shall judge, upon 
his soul and his conscience, the most worthy to be elected 
regent of the realm, 

7. The mandatory citizens appointed by the districts shall 
be required to meet in the city where the Legislative Body is 
to hold its sitting, on the fortieth day at the latest from the 
accession of the minor King to the throne, and they shall form 
the electoral assembly which shall proceed to the appointment 
of the regent. 

8. The election of the regent shall be made by individual 
ballot and by majority of the votes. 

9. The electoral assembly shall be able to occupy itself 
only with the election and shall separate as soon as the election 
shall be concluded ; any other act which it may undertake to 
do is declared unconstitutional and void. 

10. The electoral assembly shall cause the minutes of the 
election to be presented by its president to the Legislative Body, 
which, after having verified the regularity of the election, shall 
cause it to be published in all the kingdom by a proclamation. 

11. The regent exercises, until the majority of the King, 
all the functions of royalty, and he is not personally respon- 
sible for the acts of his administration. 

12. The regent can begin the exercise of his functions only 
after having taken to the nation, in the presence of the Legis- 
lative Body, the oath to he faithful to the nation, the law, and 
the King; to employ all the power delegated to the King, and 
the exercise of which is confided to him during the minority of 
the King, to maintain the constitution decreed hy the National 
Constituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, and 1791, and to 
cause the laws to be executed. 

If the Legislative Body is not assembled, the regent shall 
cause a proclamation to be published in which shall be ex- 
pressed this oath and the promise to repeat it as soon as the 
Legislative Body shall be assembled. 

13. As long as the regent has not entered upon the exer- 
cise of his functions, the sanction of the laws remains sus- 



74 , CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

pended ; the ministers continue to perform under their respon 
sibility all the acts of the executive power. 

14. As soon as the regent shall have taken the oath, the 
Legislative Body shall determine his stipend, which cannot be 
changed during the continuance of the regency. 

15. If, on account of the minority of the kinsman sum- 
moned to the regency, it shall have devolved upon a more 
remote kinsman, or shall have been bestowed by election, the 
regent who shall have entered upon the exercise of it shall 
continue his functions until the majority of the King. 

16. The regency of the kingdom does not confer any "right 
over the person of the minor King. 

17. The custody of the minor King shall be confided to his 
mother; and if he has no mother, or if she has been married 
again at the time of the accession of her son to the throne, 
or if she marries again during the minority, the custody shall 
be bestowed by the Legislative Body. 

Neither the regent and his descendants, nor women, can be 
elected to the guardianship of the minor King. 

18. In case of notoriously recognized insanity of the King, 
legally established and declared by the Legislative Body after 
three deliberations taken successively from month to month, 
there shall be occasion for a regency as long as the insanity 
lasts. 

Section III. Of the family of the King. 

1. The heir presumptive shall bear the name of Prince 
Royal. 

He cannot leave the kingdom w^ithout a decree of the Leg- 
islative Body and the consent of the King. 

If he does leave it, and if, having reached the age of eigh- 
teen years, he does not return to France after having been 
required to do so by a proclamation of the Legislative Body, 
he is considered to have abdicated the right of succession to 
the throne. 

2. If the heir presumptive is a minor, the kinsman of full 
age first summoned to the regency is required to reside within 
the kingdom. 

In case he may have left it and should not return iipon 
the requisition of the Legislative Body, he shall be considered 
to have abdicated his right to the regency. 



CONSTITUTION OP 1791 75 

3. The mother of the minor King, having his custody, or 
the elected guardian, if they leave the kingdom, are deprived 
of the custody. 

If the mother of the minor heir presumptive should leave 
the realm, she cannot, even after her return, have the custody 
of her minor son who has become King, except by a decree of 
the Legislative Body. 

4. A law shall be made to govern the education of the 
minor King and that of the heir presumptive. 

5. The members of the family of the King entitled to the 
eventual succession to the throne enjoy the rights of active 
citizenship, but they are not eligible to any of the places, em- 
ployments, or functions which are at the disposal of the people. 

With the exception of the departments of the ministry, 
they are eligible to the places and employmt;nts at the disposal 
of the King; nevertheless, they shall not command in chief 
any military or naval forces, nor fulfill the functions of am- 
bassadors, except with the consent of the Legislative Body, 
granted upon the proposal of the King. 

6. The members of the family of the King entitled to 
eventual succession to the throne shall add the denomination 
of French Prince to the name which shall have been given 
them in the civil certificate attesting their birth, and this name 
cannot be patronymical nor formed from any of the titles abol- 
ished by the present constitution. 

The denomination of prince cannot be given to any other 
person and it shall not bestow any privilege nor anj' exception 
to the rights common to all Frenchmen. 

7. The certificates by which shall be attested the births, 
marriages, and deaths of the French princes shall be presented 
to the Legislative Body, which shall order the deposit of them 
in its archives. 

8. No real estate appanage shall be granted to members of 
the family of the King. 

The younger sons of the King shall receive at the age of 
twenty-one years or at the time of their marriage an appan- 
aged income which shall be fixed by the Legislative Body and 
shall terminate with the extinction of their masculine posterity. 



V. 



^6 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

Section IV. Of the ministers. 

1. The choice and dismissal of the ministers shall belong 
to the King alone. 

2. The members of the present National Assembly and of 
the legislatures following, the members of the tribunal of cas- 
sation, and those who shall serve on the high jury, cannot be 
promoted to the ministry, nor receive any place, gift, pension, 
stipend, or commission from the executive power or from 
its agents, during the continuance of their functions, in or for 
two years after having ceased the exercise of them. 

It shall be theTame^with those who are only enrolled upon 
the list of the high jury, during the time that their enroll- 
ment shall continue. 

3. No one can enter upon the exercise of any employment 
either in the offices of the ministry or in those of the man- 
agement or administration of the public revenues nor in 
general any employment at the nomination of the executive 
power, without taking the civic oath, or without proving that 
he has taken it. 

4. No order of the King can be executed unless it is 
signed by him and countersigned by the minister or adminis- 
trator of the department. 

5. The ministers are responsible for all the offences com- 
mitted by themselves against the national security and the 
conF*^itution ; 

For every attack upon property and personal liberty; 
For all waste of monies appropriated for the expenses of 
their departments. 

6. In no case can the order of the King, verbal or in 
writing, shield a minister from his responsibility. 

7. The ministers are required to present each year to the 
Legislative Body at the opening of the session an estimate of 
the expenditures to be made in their departments, to render 
account of the employment of the sums which were appropria- 
ted for them, and to indicate the abuses which may have been 
able to introduce themselves into the different parts of the 
government. 

8. No minister, in office or out of office, can be prosecuted 
for any acts of his administration, without a decree of the 
Legislative Body. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 77 

Chapter III. Of the Exercise of the Legislative Power. 

Section I. Powers and functions of the National Legisla- 
tive Assembly. 

I. The constitution delegates exclusively to the Legisla- 
tive Body the following powers and functions : 

1st. To propose and enact the laws: the King can only 
invite the Legislative Body to take the matter under consid- 
eration ; 

2d. To fix the public expenditures ; 

3d. To establish the public taxes, tO' determine the na> 
ture of them, the quota, the duration, and the mode of col- 
lection ; 

4th. To make the apportionment of the direct tax among 
the departments of the kingdom, to supervise the employment 
of all the public revenues, and to cause an account of them to 
be rendered; 

5th. To decree the creation or suppression of public offices ; 

6th. To determine the title, weight, stamp, and denom- 
ination of the monies; 

7th. To permit or forbid the introduction of foreign) 
troops upon French soil and foreign naval forces in the ports of ' 
the kingdom; 

8th. To determine annually, after the proposal of the King, 
the number of men and vessels of which the land and 
naval forces shall be composed : the pay and the number of 
persons of each grade; the rules for admission and promotion, 
the forms of enrollment and discharge, the formation of ship 
crews ; the admission of troops or foreign forces into the ser- 
vice of France, and the treatment of troops in case of disband- 
ment ; 

9th. To determine upon the administration and to order 
the alienation of the national lands ; 

loth. To institute before the High National Court legal 
proceedings for securing the responsibility of the ministers and 
the principal agents of the executive power ; 

To accuse and to prosecute before the same court those 
who shall be charged with attacks and conspiracies against the 
general security of the State or against the constitution ; 

nth. To establish laws according to which purely per- 



78 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



sonal marks of honor or decorations shall be granted to those 
who have rendered services to the State; 

I2th. The Legislative Body alone has the right to award 
public honors to the memory of great men. 

2. War can be declared only by a decree of the Legislative 
Body, rendered upon the formal and indispensable proposal 
of the King, and sanctioned by him. 

In case hostilities are imminent or already begun, or in 
case of an alliance to sustain or a right to preserve by force 
of arms, the King shall give notification of it without delay to 
the Legislative Body and shall make known the causes thereof. 
If the Legislative Body is in recess the King shall convoke it 
immediately. 

If the Legislative Body decides that war ought not to be 
made, the King shall take measures immediately to cause the 
cessation or prevention of all hostilities, the ministers remain- 
ing responsible for delays. 

If the Legislative Body finds the hostilities already com- 
menced to be a culpable aggression on the part of the ministers 
or of any other agent of the executive power, the author of the 
aggression shall be prosecuted criminally. 

During the entire course of the war the Legislative Body 
can require the King to negotiate for peace; and the King is 
required to yield to this requisition. 

As soon as the war shall have ceased the Legislative Body 
shall fix the period within which the troops raised in excess of 
the peace footing shall be discharged and the army reduced to 
its usual condition. 

3. The ratification of treaties of peace, alliance, and com- 
merce belongs to the Legislative Body; and no treaty shall 
have effect except by this ratification. 

4. The Legislative Body has the right to determine the 
place of its sittings, to continue them as long as it shall judge 
necessary, and to adjourn. At the beginning of each reign, if 
it is not in session, it shall be required to reassemble without 
delay. 

It has the right of police over the place of its sittings, and 
over the environs which it shall have determined. 

It has the right of discipline over its members ; but it can- 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



79 



not impose punishment more severe than censure, arrest for 
eight days, or imprisonment for three days. 

It has the right, for its security and for the maintenance of 
the respect that is due to it, to dispose of the forces, which 
with its own consent shall be established in the city where it 
shall hold its sittings. 

5. The executive power cannot cause any body of troops 
of the line to pass or sojourn within thirty thousand toises of 
the Legislative Body, except upon its requisition or with its 
authorisation. 

Section 11. Holding of the meetings and the form of de- 
liberation. 

1. The deliberations of the Legislative Body shall be pub- 
lic and the minutes of its sittings shall be printed 

2. The Legislative Body, nevertheless, shall be able at any 
time to form itself into committee of the whole. 

Fifty members shall have the right to require it. 

During the continuance of the committee of the whole the 
clerks shall retire, the chair of the president shall be vacant ; 
order shall be maintained by the vice-president. 

3. No legislative act shall be deliberated upon or decreed, 
except in the following form. 

4. There shall be three readings of the project for a de- 
cree at three intervals, each of which shall not be less than 
eight days. 

5. The discussion shall be open after each reading; never- 
theless, after the fiist or second reading, the Legislative Body 
may declare that there is need for adjournment or that there is 
no need for consideration of it; but in this last case, the pro- 
ject for a decree can be presented again in the same session. 

Every project for a decree shall be printed and distributed 
before the second reading of it can be given. 

6. After the third reading, the president shall be required 
to put in deliberation and the Legislative Body shall decide 
whether it finds itself in condition to render a definitive de- 
cree or whether it wishes to postpone the decision to another 
time in order to receive more ample enlightenment. 

7. The Legislative Body cannot deliberate unless the sitting 



gQ CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

is composed of at least two hundred members, and no decree 
shall be passed except by a majority of the votes. 

8. No project of law which, submitted to discussion, shall 
have been rejected after the third reading can be presented 
again in the same session. 

9. The preamble of every definitive decree shall announce 
expressly: ist, the dates of the sittings at which the three 
readings of the project shall have occurred ; 2d, the decree by 
which, after the third reading, it shall have been determined 
to decide definitively. 

10. The King shall refuse his sanction to a decree whose 
preamble does not attest the observation of the above forms : 
if any one of these decrees be sanctioned, the ministers shall 
not seal it and promulgate it, and their responsibility in this 
respect shall last for six years. 

11. The decrees recognized and declared urgent by a prior 
declaration of the Legislative Body are excepted from the 
above provisions ; but they can be modified or revoked in the 
course of the same session. 

The decree by which the matter shall have been declared 
urgent shall set forth the motives thereof; and there shall be 
mention made of this prior decree in the preamble of the 
definitive decree. 

Section III. Of the royal sanction. 

1. The decrees of the Legislative Body are presented to the 
King, who can refuse his consent to them. 

2. In the case where the King refuses his consent, this 
refusal is only suspensive. 

When the two legislatures following that which shall have 
presented the decree shall have again presented the same de- 
cree in the same terms, the King shall be considered to have 
given the sanction. 

3. The consent of the King is expressed upon each decree 
by this formula signed by the King : The King consents and 
will cause it to he executed. 

The suspensive refusal is expressed by this : The King 
zvill examine. 

4. The King is required to express his consent or his re- 
fusal upon each decree within two months from the presenta- 
tion. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 gl 

5. No decree to which the King has refused his consent 
can be presented again by the same legislature. 

6. The decrees sanctioned by the King and those which 
shall have been presented by three consecutive legislatures have 
the force of law, and bear the name and title of laws. 

y. The following are executed as laws, without being sub- 
ject to the sanction : The acts of the Legislative Body con- 
cerning its constitution in deliberative assembly; 

Its internal polfce, ahd'tTiat which it is allowed t© exercise 
in the environs which it shall have determined ; 

The verification of the powers of its members in attend- 
ance ; 

The orders to the absent members ; 

The convocation of the primary assemblies which are late; 

The exercise of the constitutional police over tne admin- 
istrators and the municipal officers ; 

Questions either of eligibility or of the validity of elections. 

In like manner, neither the acts relative to the responsi- 
bility of the ministers nor the decrees providing that there is 
cause for accusation are subject to the sanction. 

8. The decrees of the Legislative Body concerning the 
establishment, the promulgation, and the collection of the public 
taxes shall bear the name and the title of lazvs. They shall be 
promulgated and executed without being subject to the sanc- 
tion, except for the provisions which establish penalties other 
than fines and pecuniary constraints. 

These decrees cannot be rendered except after the observa- 
tion of the formalities prescribed by articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 
of section II of the present chapter; and the Legislative Body 
shall not insert in them any provision foreign to their purpose. 

Section IV. Relations of the Legislative Body with the 
King. 

I. When the Legislative Body is definitively constituted, it 
sends to the King a deputation in order to inform him thereof, 
'ihe King can each year open the session and can bring for- 
ward the matters which he believes ought to be taken into con- 
sideration in the course of that session, without this formality, 
nevertheless, being considered as necessary for the activity of 
the Legislative Body. 



J 



82 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

2. When the Legislative Body wishes to adjourn beyond 
fifteen days, it is required to notify the King thereof by a depu- 
tation at least eight days in advance. 

3. At least eight days before the end of each session, the 
Legislative Body sends to the King a deputation, in order to an- 
nounce to him the day whereon it proposes to terminate its 
sittings. The King can come to close the session. 

4. If the King thinks it important for the welfare of the 
State that the session be continued, or that the adjournment 
should not occur, or that it should occur only for a shorter 
time, he can send a message to that effect, upon which the Leg- 
islative Body is required to deliberate, 

5. The King shall convoke the Legislative Body during the 
intermission of its sessions, whenever the interests of the State 
appear to him to require it, as well as in the cases which have 
been provided for and determined by the Legislative Body 
before its adjournment. 

6. Whenever the King repairs to the place of the sittings 
of the Legislative Body, he shall be received and conducted by 
a deputation ; he cannot be accompanied within the interior of 
the hall except by the Prince Royal and the ministers. 

7. In no case can the president make up part of a depu- 
tation. 

8. The Legislative Body shall cease to be a deliberative 
body as long as the King shall be present. 

9. The documents of the correspondence of the King with 
the Legislative Body shall always be countersigned by a min- 
ister. 

10. The ministers of the King shall have entrance into 
the National Legislative Assembly; they shall have a desig- 
nated place there. 

They shall be heard, whenever they shall demand it, upon 
matters relative to their administrations or when they shall 
be required to give information. 

They shall likewise be heard upon matters foreign to their 
administrations when the National Assembly shall grant them 
the word. 

Chapter IV. Of the Exercise of the Executive Power. 

I. The supreme executive power resides exclusively in the 
hands of the King. 



CONSTITUTION OP 1791 S3 

The King is the supreme head of the general administration 
of the kingdom; the task of looking after the maintenance of 
public order and tranquility is confided to him. 

The King is the supreme head of the army and navy. 

The task of looking after the external security of the king- 
dom and of maintaining its rights and possessions is delegated 
to the King. 

2. The King appoints the ambassadors and other agents of 
political negotiations. 

He confers the command of the armies and fleets, and the 
grades of marshal and admiral. 

He appoints two-thirds of the rear-admirals, half of the 
lieutenant generals, camp-marshals, ship-captains, and colonels 
of the national gendarmerie. 

He appoints two-thirds of the colonels and lieutenant col- 
onels, and a sixth of the ship-heutenants. 

All of these conforming to the laws upon promotion. 

He appoints in the civil administration of the navy the 
managers, comptrollers, treasurers of the arsenals, heads of 
the works, under-chiefs of civil buildings, and half of the 
heads of administration and under-chiefs of construction. 

He appoints the commissioners before the tribunals. 

He appoints the officers-in-chief for the administrations 
of the indirect taxes and for the administration of the national 
lands. 

He superintends the coining of the monies, and appoints 
the officers charged with the exercise of this surveillance in the 
general commission and in the mints. 

The image of the King is stamped upon all the monies of 
the kingdom. 

3. The King causes to be delivered the letters-patent, war- 
rants, and commissions, to public functionaries or others who 
ought to receive them. 

4. The King causes to be drawn up the list of the pensions 
and gratuities, in order to be presented to the Legislative Body 
at each of its sessions and to be decreed, if there is need 
thereof. 

Section I. Of the promulgation of the laws. 

I. The executive power is charged to cause the laws to be 



g4 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

sealed with the seal of the State and to cause them to be pro- 
mulgated. 

It is likewise charged to cause to be promulgated and to be 
executed the acts of the Legislative Body which do not need 
the sanction of the King. 

2. There shall be made two original copies of each law, 
both signed by the King, countersigned by the minister of 
justice, and sealed wnth the seal of the State. 

One shall remain on deposit in the archives of the seal, 
and the other shall be placed in the archives of the Legisla- 
tive Body. 

3. The promulgation shall be thus expressed : 

"N. (the name of the King), by the grace of God and by 
the constitutional law of the State, King of the French, to all 
present and to come, greeting. The National Assembly has 
decreed and we wish and order as follows :" 

(A literal copy of the decree shall be inserted without any 
change. ) 

"We command and order to all the administrative bodies 
and the tribunals that they cause these presents to be recorded 
in their registers, read, published, and posted in their respective 
departments and jurisdictions, and executed as law of the 
kingdom. In testimony whereof we have signed these presents, 
to which we have caused to be affixed the seal of the State." 

4. If the King is a minor, the law^s, proclamations, and 
other documents emanating from the royal authority during 
the regency shall be expressed as follows : 

"N. (the name of the regent), regent of the kingdom, in 
the name of N. {the name of the King), by the grace of God 
and by the constitutional law of the State, King of the French, 
etc., etc." 

5. The executive power is required to send the laws to the 
administrative bodies and the tribunals, to cause the trans- 
mission to be certified, and to give proof thereof to the Leg- 

■ islative Body. 

6. The executive power cannot make any law, even pro- 
visionally, but only proclamations in conformity with the laws 
to order or call to mind the execution of them. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 85 

Section II. Of the internal administration. 

1. In each department there is a superior administration, 
and in each district a subordinate administration. 

2. The adminif^-rators do not have any representative 
ch7-acter. 

They are agents elected at stated times by the people to 
exercise, under the surveillance and authority of the King, the 
administrative functions. 

3. They cannot interfere in the exercise of the legislative 
power, nor suspend the execution of the laws, nor encroach 
in any manner upon the judiciary, nor upon the military ar- _J 
rangements or operations. 

4. The administrators are essentially charged with the 
apportionment of the direct taxes and the surveillance of the 
monies arising from all the public taxes and revenues in their 
territory. 

It belongs to the legislative power to determine the regu- 
lations and the mode of their functions, upon the matters 
above expressed as well as upon all the other parts of the in- 
ternal administration. 

5. The King has the right to annul the acts of the depart- 
ment administrators which are contrary to the laws or to the 
orders which shall have been addressed to them. 

He can suspend them from their functions, in case of per- 
sistent disobedience, or if they compromise by their acts the 
public security or tranquility. 

6. The department administrators, likewise, have the right 
to annul the acts of the district sub-administrators which are 
contrary to the laws or to the decisions of the department 
administrators or to the orders which these latter shall have 
given or transmitted. They can, likewise, suspend them from 
their functions in case of persistent disobedience or if these 
latter compromise by their acts the public security or tranquil- 
ity, provided that notification thereof be given to the King 
who can remove or confirm the suspension. 

7. When the department administrators shall not have 
used the power which is delegated to them in the article above, 
the King can annul directly the acts of the sub-administrators 
and suspend them in the same cases. 

8. Whenever the King shall have pronounced or confirmed 



( 



86 CONSTITUTION OP 1791 

the suspension of administrators or snb-administrators, he 
shall give notice thereof to the Legislative Body. 

This [body] shall be able to remove the suspension or 
confirm it, or even dissolve the guilty administration and, if 
there is need, send all the administrators or any of them to 
the criminal tribunals or bring against them the decree of 
accusation. 

Section III. Of the external relations. 

1. The King alone can enter upon political relations 
abroad, conduct negotiations, make preparations for war pro- 
portioned to those of the neighboring States, distribute the 
forces of the army and the navy as he shall deem suitable and 
control the direction thereof in case of war. 

2. Every declaration of war shall be made in these terms : 
On the part of the King of the French, in the name of the 
nation. 

3. It belongs to the King to conclude and sign with all 
foreign powers all treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce, 
and all other conventions which he shall deem necessary for 
the welfare of the State, subject to the ratification of the Leg- 
islative Body. 

Chapter V. Of the Judicial Power. 

1. The judicial power cannot in any case be exercised by 
the Legislative Body nor by the King. 

2. Justice shall be rendered gratuitously by judges elected 
at stated times by the people and instituted by letters patent 
of the King, who cannot refuse them. 

They cannot be removed except for duly pronounced for- 
feiture, nor suspended save by an accepted accusation. 
The public accuser shall be chosen by the people. 

3. The tribunals cannot interfere in the exercise of the 
legislative power, nor suspend the execution of the laws, nor 
encroach upon the administrative functions, nor cite before 
them the administrators on account of their functions. 

4. Citizens cannot be deprived of the judges whom the law 
assigns to them by any commission nor by other attributions 
and evocations than those determined by the laws. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



87 



5. The right of citizens to terminate definitively their con- 
troversies by means of arbitration cannot be impaired by the 
acts of the legislative power. 

6. The ordinary tribunals cannot entertain any civil action 
unless it should be shown to them that the parties have ap- 
peared, or that the plaintiff has cited the adverse party before 
mediators, in order to obtain a conciliation, 

7. There shall be one or several justices of the peace in the 
cantons and cities ; the number thereof shall be determined by 
the legislative power. 

8. It belongs to the legislative power to regulate the num- 
ber and the districts of the tribunals, and the number of the 
judges of which each tribunal shall be composed. 

9. In criminal matters no citizen can be tried except upon 
an accusation received by the jurors or decreed by the Legis- 
lative Body, in the cases where the preferring of the accusation 
belongs to it. 

After the accusation has been accepted, the facts shall be 
recognized and declared by the jurors. 

The accused shall have the right to reject up to twenty of 
these without giving reasons. 

The jurors who shall declare the facts cannot be less than 
twelve in number. 

The application of the law shall be made by the judges. 

The proceedings shall be public and the assistance of coun- 
sel shall not be refused to the accused. 

No man acquitted by a legal jury can be taken again or 
accused on account of the same act 

10. No man can be seized except in order to be brought 
before the police ofificer; and no man can be put under arrest 
or detained, except in virtue of a warrant from police officers, 
an order of arrest from a tribunal, a decree of accusation of 
the Legislative Body, in case the decision belongs to it, or of 
a sentence of condemnation to prison or correctional de- 
tention. 

11. Every man seized and brought before the police officers 
shall be examined immediately, or at the latest within twenty- 
four hours. 

If it results from the examination that there is no ground 
for incrimination, he shall be set at liberty immediately; or 



88 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

if there is occasion for sending him to jail, he shall be taken 
there within the briefest possible interval, which in any case 
shall not exceed three days. 

12. No arrested man can be kept in confinement in any 
case in which the law permits remaining free under bail, if he 
gives sufficient bail. 

13. No man, in a case in which his detention is authorised 
by law, can be brought to or confined except in the places 
legally and publicly designated to serve as jail, court house, 
or prison. 

14. No custodian nor jailer can receive or confine any man 
except in virtue of a warrant or order of arrest, decree of ac- 
cusation or sentence mentioned in article 10 above, and unless 
the transcript thereof has been made upon his register. 

15. Every custodian or jailer is required, without any or- 
der being able to dispense therewith, to present the person of 
the prisoner to the civil officer having the police of the jail, 
whenever it shall be required by him. 

In like manner the presentation of the person of the pris- 
oner cannot be refused to his kinsmen and friends bearing 
the order of the civil officer, who shall always be required to 
grant it, unless the custodian or jailer presents an order of 
the judge, transcribed upon his register, to keep the accused 
in secret. 

16. Any man, whatever may be his place or his employ- 
ment, other than those to whom the law gives the right of 
arrest, who shall give, sign, execute or cause to be executed an 
order of arrest for a citizen, or anyone, who, even in the case 
of arrest authorised by law, shall conduct, receive, or retain 
a citizen in a place of detention not publicly and legally desig- 
nated, and any custodian or jailer who shall contravene the 
provisions of articles 14 and 15 above shall be guilty of the 
crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 

17. No man can be questioned or prosecuted on account 
of writings which he shall have caused to be printed or pub- 
lished upon any matter whatsoever, unless he may have in- 
tentionally instigated disobedience to the law, contempt for the 
constituted authorities, resistance to their acts, or any of the 
acts declared crimes or offences by the law. 

Criticism upon the acts of the constituted authorities is 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 89 

i 
permitted; but wilful calumnies against the probity of the pub- i 

lie functionaries and the rectitude of their.Jjite***Jons in th© / 

exercise n f th pj r .fjn[rijrti on s can 6^e prosecuted by those who are 
the object oLtllfiilk, 

Calumnies and injm-ies__aggin&t any persons whatsoever 
relative to acts of their private life shall be punished upon 
their prosecutions. 

18. No one can be tried either by civil or criminal process 
for written, printed, or published facts, unless it has been 
recognized and declared by a jury: ist, whether there is an 
offence in the writing denounced ; 2d, whether the prosecuted 
person is guilty. 

19. There shall be for all the kingdom a single tribunal of 
cassation, established near the Legislative Body. Its functions 
shall be to pronounce : 

Upon petitions in cassation against the judgments rendered 
in the last resort by the tribunals ; 

Upon petitions for transfer from one tribunal to another,, 
on account of legitimate suspicion ; *■' 

Upon orders of judges and the charges of prejudice against 
an entire tribunal. 

20. In matters of cassation the tribunal of cassation shall 
never be able to take jurisdiction over the facts of suits; but, 
after having quashed the judgment rendered upon a proceeding 

in which the forms shall have been violated, or which shall ^ 

contain an express contravention of the law, it shall remand / 

the facts of the trial to the tribunal which ought to have juris- 
diction therein. 

21. When after two cassations, the judgment of the third 
tribunal shall be attacked by the same means as the first two, 
the question shall not be further discussed in the tribunal of 
cassation without having been submitted to the Legislative 
Body, which shall pass a decree declaratory of the law, to 
which the tribunal of cassation shall be required to conform. 

22. Each year the tribunal of cassation shall be required 
to send to the bar of the Legislative Body a deputation of eight 
of its members, who shall present to it the list of the judg- 
ments rendered, along with each of which shall be a condensed 



90 



CONSTITUTION OF 17G1 



account of the suit and the text of the law which shall have 
determined the decision. 

2S. A high national court, formed of members of the trib- 
unal of cassation and of high jurors, shall have jurisdiction 
over the offences of the ministers and principal agents of the 
executive power, and over crimes which shall assail the general 
security of the State, when the Legislative Body shall have 
rendered a decree of accusation. 

It shall not assemble except upon the decree of the Legis- 
lative Body, and only at a distance of at least thirty thousand 
toises from the place where the Legislative Body shall hold 
its sittings. 

24. The writs of execution of the tribunals shall be ex- 
pressed as follows : 

"N. (the name of the King), by the grace of God and by 
constitutional law of the State, King of the French, to all 

present and to come, greeting. The tribunal of 

has rendered the following judgment:'' 

(Here shall be copied the judgment, in whicJi mention 
shall he made of the names of the judges.) 

"We command and order to all bailiffs, upon this requisi- 
tion, to put the said judgment into execution; to our commis- 
sioners before the tribunals, to support them; and to all com- 
mandants and officers of the public forces, to lend assistance, 
when they shall be legally summoned thereto. In testimony 
of which, the present judgment has been signed by the pres- 
ident of the tribunal and the clerk." 

25. The functions of the commissioners of the King before 
the tribunals shall be to require the observation of the lav/s in 
the judgments rendered, and to cause the judgments rendered 
to be executed. 

They shall not be public accusers, but they shall be heard 
upon all accusations and shall make demand for the regularity 
of the forms, during the course of the proceedings, and for 
the application of the law before the sentence. 

26. The commissioners of the King before the tribunals 
shall denounce to the foreman of the jury, either ex-officio or 
in consequence of the orders which shall be given them by the 
King: 

Attacks upon the personal liberty of the citizens, against 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 9I 

the free circulation of provisions and other articles of com- 
merce, and against the collection of the taxes ; 

Ofifences..bx,.jY]iich the execution of the orders given 
by the King in the exercise of the functions which are delegat- 
ed to him may be disturbed or interfered with ; 

Attacks upon international law ; 

And revorts"agamsl the execution of the judgments and 
of all the executory acts emanating from the constituted 
powers. 

27. The minister of justice shall denounce to the tribunal 
of cassation, by means of the commissioner of the King, and 
without prejudice to the rights of the interested parties, the 
acts in which the judges may have exceeded the limits of their 
power. 

The tribunal shall annul them; and, if they give occasion 
for forfeiture, the fact shall be denounced to the Legislative 
Body, which shall render the decree of accusation, if there is 
need, and shall send the accused before the high national court, 

TITLE IV. OF THE PUBLIC FORCE. 

1. The public force is instituted in order to defend the 
State against enemies from abroad, and to assure within the 
maintenance of order and the execution of the laws. 

2. It is composed of the army and the navy, of the troops 
especially intended for internal service, and subsidiarily of the 
active citizens and their children, in condition to bear arm.s, 
registered upon the roll of the national guard. 

3. The national guards form neither a military body nor 
an institution within the State; they are the citizens them- 
selves summoned to service in the public force. 

4. The citizens can never take the form nor act as national 
guards, except in virtue of a requisition or of a legal author- 
isation. 

5. They are subject in this capacity to an organization de- 
termined by the law. 

They can have but one common discipline and one com- 
mon uniform in the whole kingdom. 

The distinctions of rank and subordination exist only in 
relation to the service and during its contitiuance. 



92 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



6. The officers are elected at stated times and they can be 
re-elected only after an interval of service as soldiers. 

No one shall command the national guard of more than 
one district. 

7. All parts of the public force employed for the security 
of the State against enemies from abroad shall act under 
the orders of the King. 

8. No corps nor detachment of troops of the line can act in 
the interior of the kingdom without a legal requisition. 

g. No agent of the public force can enter into the house 
of a citizen, except for the execution of the warrants of police 
and justice, or in the cases expressly provided for by law. 

10. The requisition of the public force within the interior 
of the realm belongs to the civil officers, according to the 
regulations determined by the legislative power. 

11. If disorders disturb an entire department, the King, 
under the responsibility of his ministers, shall give the neces- 
sary orders for the execution of the laws and for the re-estab- 
lishment of order, but subject to informing the Legislative 
Body thereof, if it is assembled, and of convoking it, if it is 
in recess. 

12. The public force is essentially obedient ; no armed body 
can deliberate. 

13. The army and navy and the troops designed for the 
internal security are subject to special laws, in the matter of 
military offences, both for the maintenance of discipline and 
for the form of the trials and the nature of the penalties. 

TITLE v. OF TTIF PUBLIC TAXES. 

1. The public taxes are considered and fixed each year by 
the Legislative Body and they shall not remain in force be- 
yond the last day of the following session, unless they have 
been expressly renewed. 

2. Under no pretext shall the funds necessary for the dis- 
charge of the national debt and the payment of the civil list 
be refused or suspended. 

The compensation of the ministers of the Catholic sect, 
pensioned, maintained, elected, or appointed in virtue of the 
decrees of the National Assembly, makes part of the national 
debt. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



93 



The Legislative Body shall not in any case charge the na- 
tion with the payment of the debts of any person. 

3. The detailed accounts of the expenditure of the minis- 
terial departments, signed and certified by the ministers or 
ordainers-general, shall be made public by means of print- 
ing at the beginning of the sessions of each legislature. 

Likewise there shall be lists of the receipts from the differ- 
ent taxes and of all the public revenues. 

The Hsts of these expenses and receipts shall be distin- 
guished according to their nature, and shall show the sums re- 
ceived and expended year by year in each district. 

The particular expenses of each department relative to the 
tribunals, the administrative bodies and other establishments, 
shall likewise be made public. 

4. The department administrators and sub-administra- 
tors shall not establish any public tax, nor make any appor- 
tionment beyond the time and sums fixed by the Legislative 
Body, nor consider or permit, without being authorised by it, 
any local loan at the expense of the citizens of the department. 

5. The executive department directs and supervises the 
collection and disbursement of the taxes and gives all the nec- 
essary orders for that purpose. 

TITLE VI. OF THE RELATIONS OF THE FRENCH NATION 

WITH FOREIGN NATIONS. __. 

The French nation renounces the undertaking of any war 
with a view to making conquests, and will never employ its 
forces against the liberty of any people. 

The constitution does not admit the right of aubaine. 

Foreigners, established in France or not, inherit from their 
French or foreign kinsmen. 

They can contract for, acquire, and receive estates situated 
in France and dispose of them just as any French citizen by 
all the methods authorised by the laws. 

Foreigners who chance to be in France are subject to the 
same criminal and police laws as the French citizens, saving 
the conventions arranged with the foreign powers ; their per- 
sons, their estates, their business, their religion, are likewise 
protected by the law. 



94 CONSTITUTION OF 1791 

TITLE VII. OF THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL 
DECREES. 

1. The National Constituent Assembly declares that the 
nation has the imprescriptible right to change its constitution : 
nevertheless, considering that it is more conformable to the 
national interests to make use of the right only to reform, by 
the means provided in the constitution itself, the articles of 
which experience shall have made the inconveniences felt, 
decrees that it shall proceed by an assembly of revision in the 
following form. 

2. When three consecutive legislatures shall have expressed 
a uniform wish for the amendment of some constitutional 
article, the revision demanded shall take place. 

3. The next legislature and the one following shall not 
propose the alteration of any constitutional article. 

4. Of the three legislatures which may one after another 
propose any changes, the first two shall occupy themselves 
with that matter only in the last two months of their last ses- 
sion and the third only at the end of its first session or at the 
beginning of the second. 

Their deliberations upon this matter shall be subject to 
the same forms as the legislative acts ; but the decrees by 
which they shall have expressed their wish shall not be sub- 
ject to the sanction of the King. 

5. The fourth legislature, augmented by two hundred and 
forty-nine members elected in each department by doubling the 
usual number which it furnishes for its population, shall form 
the Assembly of Revision. 

These two hundred and forty-nine members shall be elected 
after the selection of the representatives of the Legislative 
Body shall have been concluded and there shall be a separate 
record made of it. 

The Assembly of Revision shall be composed of only one 
chamber. 

6. The members of the third legislature which shall have 
requested the alteration cannot be elected to the Assembly of 
Revision. 

7. The members of the Assembly of Revision, after having 
pronounced in unison the oath to live free or to die, shall take 
individually that "to confine themselves to pass upon the mat- 



CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



95 



ters which shall have been submitted to them by the uniform 
wish of the three preceding legislatures; to maintain, besides, 
with all their power the constitution of the kingdom, decreed 
by the National Constituent Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, 
and 1791, and in everything to be faithful to the nation, the 
law, and the King." 

8. The assembly of revision shall be required to occupy 
itself afterwards and without delay with the matters which 
shall have been submitted to its examination : as soon as its 
work shall be concluded, the two hundred forty-nine members 
in augmentation shall retire, without power to take part in any 
case in legislative acts. 

[Miscellaneous Provisions.] 

— ^ 

The French colonies and possessions in Asia, Africa, and | 
America, although they make up part of the French Empire, 
are not included in the present constitution. 

None of the authorities instituted by the constitution has 
the right to change it in its entirety or in its parts, saving the 
alterations which can be made in it by way of revision in con- 
formity with the provisions of title vii above. 

The National Constituent Assembly delivers it as a trust 
to the fidelity of the Legislative Body, the King, and the 
judges, to the vigilance of the fathers of families, to the wives 
and the mothers, to the affection of the young citizens, to the 
courage of all the French. 

The decrees rendered by the National Constituent Assembly 
which are not included in the constitutional act, shall be ex- 
ecuted as laws, and the prior laws which have not been ab- 
rogated shall likewise be observed, in so far as the one or the 
other have not been revoked or modified by the legislative 
power. 

The National Assembly having heard the reading of the 
above constitutional act, and after having approved it, declares 
that the constitution is completed and that it cannot be furth- 
er changed. 

There shall be appointed immediately a deputation of sixty 
members to offer within the day, the constitutional act to the 
King- 



^6 ACCEPTANCE OP THE CONSTITUTION 

16. The King's Acceptance of the Constitution. 

September 13, 1791. Moniteurj September 14, 1791 {Reimpres- 
*ion, IX, 655). 

This document was read to the Constituent Assembly in ex- 
planation of the King's acceptance of No. 15. Three features call 
for particular notice: (1) the official defence of the King's flight, 
(2) the interpretation placed upon the revision recently effected 
in the final draft of the constitution, (3) the attitude of the 
King towards the general course of the Revolution and especially 
towards the new constitution. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution Frsmcaise, 164-166. 

Gentlemen: I have examined attentively the constitutional 
act which you have presented to me for my acceptance ; I 
/ accept it and shall cause it to be executed. This declaration 
I might have sufficed at another time ; today I owe it to the in- 

I terests of the nation, I owe it to myself, to make known my 

\ reasons. 



Let everyone recall the moment at which I went away from 
Paris : the constitution was on the point of completion, never- 
theless the authority of the laws seemed to become enfeebled 
every day. Opinion, far from becoming fixed, was subdividing 
into a multitude of parties. The most extreme opinions alone 
seemed to obtain favor, the license of the press was at the 
highest pitch, no authority was respected. I could no longer 
recognize the mark of the general will in the laws which I 
saw everywhere without force and without execution. At that 
time, I am bound to declare, if you had presented the consti- 
tution to me, I should not have believed that the interest of the 
people (the constant and sole rule of my conduct) would 
permit me to accept it. I had only one feeling, I formed only 
one project; I wished to isolate myself from all the parties and 
to know what was truly the will of the nation. 

The considerations which were controlling me no longer 
remain today ; since then the inconveniences and evils of which 
I was complaining have impressed you as they did me ; you 
have manifested a desire to re-establish order, you have direct- 
ed your attention to the lack of discipline in the army, you havs 
recognized the necessity of repressing the abuses of the press. 
The revision of your work has put in the number of the regu- 



THE REJECTED DECREES 97 

lative laws several articles which had been presented to me ai 
constitutional. You have established legal forms for the re- 
vision of those which you have placed in the constitution. 
Finally, the opinion of the people is to me no longer doubtful ; 
I have seen it manifested both in their adhesion to your work 
and their attachment to the maintenance of the monarchical 
government. 

I accept then the constitution. I take the engagement to 
maintain it within, to defend it against attacks from without, 
and to cause it to be executed by all the means which it 
places in my power. I declare that, instructed by the adhesion 
which the great majority of the people give to the constitution, 
I renounce the co-operation which I had claimed in that work ; 
and that, being responsible only to the nation, no other, when 
I renounce it, has the right to complain thereof. I should be 
lacking in sincerity, however, if I said that I perceived in the 
means of execution and administration, all the energy v/hich 
may be necessary in order to give motion to and to preserve 
unity in all the parts of so vast an empire; but since opinions 
at present are divided upon these matters, I consent that ex- 
perience alone remain judge therein. When I shall have loyal- 
ly caused to operate all the means which have been left to me, 
no reproach can be aimed at me, and the nation, whose interest 
alone ought to serve as rule, will explain itself by the means 
which the constitution has reserved to it. 

Signed, Louis. 

17. The Rejected Decrees. 

The Legislative Assembly began its sittings October 1, 1791. 
Among the many difficult questions confronting it were those of 
the Emigres and the non-juring clergy. These decrees represent 
the Assembly's solution of these problems. Both were rejected by 
the King. This rejection was a leading factor ifi" producing both 
the declaration of war againsT Austria and the overthrow of the 
Monarchy. ..:.,™«*v««»ara« 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 100-102 ; Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 31-39 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gen- 
erale, VIII, 125-126. 

A. Decree upon the Emigres. November 9, 1791. Duver- 
gier, Lois, IV, 14-15. 

4 



"1 



98 



THE REJECTED DECRi^Etr'. 



The National Assembly, considering that the tranquility 
and security of the kingdom require it to take prompt and 
effective measures against Frenchmen who, despite the am- 
nesty, do not cease to plot abroad against the French consti- 
tution, and that it is time finally to repress severely those 
whom indulgence has not been able to reclaim to the duties 
and sentiments of free citizens, has declared that there is 
urgency for the tollowing decree, and the decree of urgency 
being previously rendered, has decreed as follows : 

1. The Frenchmen mustered beyond the frontiers of the 
kingdom are from this moment declared suspects for conspir- 
acy against the fatherland. 

2. If on the ist of January next they are still in a state of 
muster, they shall be declared guilty of conspiracy; they shall 
be prosecuted as such and punished with death. 

3. As to the French princes and public functionaries, civil 
and ecclesiastical, and those who Vv^ere such at the date of their 
departure from the kingdom, their absence at the above cited 
date of the ist of Januar}^, 1792, shall make them guilty of the 
same crime of conspiracy against the fatherland; they shall 
be punished with the penalty provided in the preceding art- 
icle. 

5. The incomes of the conspirators condemned in contu- 
macy shall be collected during their lifetime for the benefit of 
the nation, without prejudice to the rights of their wives, chil- 
dren, and lawful creditors. 

13. Every Frenchman who, outside of the kingdom, shall 
engage and enroll persons to repair to the musters mentioned 
in articles i and 2 of the present decree shall be punished with 
death, in conformity with the law of October 6, 1790. The 
same penalty shall apply to every person who shall commit 
th3 same crime in France. 

14. The National Assembly chargesits diplomatic commit- 
tee to propose to it the measures which the King shall be 
prayed to take in the name of the nation with respect to the 
adjacent foreign powers which permit upon their territories 
the musters of French fugitives. 



THE REJECTED DECREES 99 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Clergy. November 29, 
1791. Duvergier, Lou, IV, 20-22. 

The National Assembly, after having heard the report of 
the civil commissioners sent into the department of the Vendee, 
the petitions of a large number of citizens, and the report of 
the committee of civil and criminal legislation tipon the dis- 
turbances excited in several departments of the kingdom by 
the enemies of the public welfare, under pretext of religion ; 

Considering that the social contract ought to bind, as it 
ought equally to protect, all the members of the State ; 

That it is important to define, without ambiguity, the terms 
of that engagement, in order that a confusion in its words may 
not effect one in its ideas ; that the oath, purely civic, is the 
surety which every citizen ought to give of his fidelity to the 
law and of his attachment to society, and that difference of 
religious opinions cannot be an impediment to the taking of the 
oath, since the constitution secures to every citizen complete 
liberty of his opinions in the matter of religion, provided that 
their expression does not disturb order, or involve acts injur- 
ious to the public security; 

That the minister of a sect, in refusing to recognize the 
constitutional act which authorises him to profess his religious 
opinions, without setting over against him any other obligation 
than respect for the order established by the law and for the 
public security, would announce, by this refusal itself, that it 
was his intention not to respect them; 

That in determining not to recognize the law, he volun- 
tarily renounces the advantages which that law alone can 
guarantee ; 

That the National Assembly, eager to devote itself to the 
great matters v^^hich call for its attention for the consolidation 
of credit and the system of finances, with regret sees itself 
obliged to first turn its attention to the disorders which have 
a tendency to compromise all parts of the public service, by 
preventing the prompt assessment and peaceable collection of 
the taxes ; 

That in tracing the source of these disorders it has heard 
the voice of all the citizens clearly proclaiming the authority 
of that great truth, that religion is for the enemJes of the con- 



L.ofC. 



100 



THE REJECTED DECREES 



stitution only a pretext of which they make an ill use and an 
instrument of which they venture to avail themselves in order 
to disturb the earth in the name of heaven ; 

That their mysterious offences easily escape ordinary meas- 
ures, which do not get hold of the clandestine ceremonies in 
which their plots are enveloped and by which they exercise 
over consciences an invisible authority; 

That it is time finally to pierce these obscurities, in ord^r 
that the peaceable and well intentioned citizen may be distin- 
guished from the turbulent priest and contriver who mourns 
for the ancient abuses and does not pardon the revolution for 
having destroyed them ; 

That these considerations imperatively demand that the 
Legislative Body should take ample political measures to re- 
press the factious who cover their conspiracies with a sacred 
veil ; 

That the efficiency of these measures depends in great part 
upon the patriotism, prudence and firmness of the municipal 
and administrative bodies and the energy which their impetus 
can communicate to all the other constituted authorities ; 

That the department administrations, especially, can under 
the circumstances render the greatest service to the nation 
and cover themselves with glory by making haste to re- 
spond to the confidence of the National Assembly, which will 
always be pleased to distinguish their zeal, but which at the 
same time will punish severely the public functionaries whose 
lack of zeal in the execution of the law may have the appear- 
ance of a tacit connivance with the enemies of the constitu- 
tion ; 

That, finally, it is especially to the progress of sane reason 
and well directed public opinion that it is reserved to achieve 
the triumph of the law, to open the eyes of the inhabitants of 
the country districts to the perfidious interest of those who 
wish to make them believe that the constituent legislators have 
laid hands upon the religion of their fathers, and to prevent 
for French honor, in the age of enlightenment the renewal of 
the horrible scenes by which superstition has unhappily only 
too often soiled their history in the ages in which the ignor- 
ance of the people was one of the forces of the government; 



THE REJECTED DECREES lOI 

The National Assembly, having previously decreed urgency, 
decrees as follows : 

I. Within a week, dating from the publication of this de- 
cree, all ecclesiastics other than those who have conformed to 
the decree of November 27 last shall be required to present 
themselves before the municipality of the place of their domi- 
cile, to take there the civic oath in the terms of article 5 of 
title II of the constitution, and to sign the record, which shall 
be signed without expense to them. 

3. Those of the clergymen of the Catholic sect who have 
given the example of submission to the laws and of attachment 
to their fatherland in taking the civic oath, according to the 
form prescribed by the decree of November 27, 1790, and who 
have not retracted it, are dispensed from any new formality; 
they are to be without exception maintained in all the rights 
which have been attributed to them by preceding decrees. 

4. As to the other ecclesiastics, none of them may hence- 
forth receive, claim, or obtain pension or salary out of the 
Public Treasury, except by presenting proof of the taking of 
the civic oath, in conformity with article i above. 

6. Besides the forfeiture of all salary and pension, the 
ecclesiastics who shall have refused to take the civic oath, or 
who shall retract it after having taken it, by this refusal or this 
retraction shall be reputed suspects of revolt against the law 
and of bad intention against the fatherland and as such shall 
be more especially submitted to and recommended to the sur- 
veillance of all the constituted authorities. 

7. In consequence, every ecclesiastic having refused to* take 
the civic oath (or who shall retract it after having taken it) 
who is present in a commune wherein there shall occur dis- 
turbances of which religious opinions shall be the cause or 
pretext may be provisionally removed from the place of his 
usual domicile in virtue of an order of the department direc- 
tory upon the notification of that of the district, without 
prejudice to the denunciation to the tribunals, according to 
the gravity of the circumstances. 

8. In case of disobedience to the order of the department 
directory the offenders shall be prosecuted in the tribunals and 



102 LETTER TO KING OF PRUSSIA 

punished by imprisonment in the head-town of the department. 
The term of this imprisonment shall not exceed one year. 



18. Letter of Louis XVI to the King of Prussia. 

December 3, 1791. Feulllet De Conches, Louis XVI, Marie An- 
toinette et Madame EUsaheth, IV, 269-271. 

This letter is selected out of many written from the French 
court in 1791-1792, suggesting or soliciting outside interference 
in behalf of the authority of the King. At the time the existence 
of this correspondence, though strongly suspected, was not pos- 
itively kDOwn. 

Paris, December 3, 1791. 
Monsieur my Brother,_X have Jearned through M. du Mous- 
tier of the interest which Your Majesty had expressed not only 
for my person, but also for the welfare of my kingdom. The 
disposition of Your Majesty towards me in giving these proofs, 
in all the cases where that interest might be useful for the wel- 
fare of my people, has warmly aroused my sensibility. I lay 
claim to it with confidence in this moment, wherein, despite 
the acceptance which I have made of the new^ ConstTtution, 
the factions openly exhibit the project of destroying entirely 
the remnants of the Monarchy. I "have just "addressed m3'-seif 
to the Emperor, the Empress of Russia, the Kings erf Spain and 
of Sweden, and presented to them the idea of a congress of the 
principal Powers of Europe, supported by an armed force, as 
the best manner to check the factions here, to give the means 
to establish a more desirable order of things, and to prevent 
the evil which afflicts us from being able to take possession of 
the other States of turope. I hope that Your Majesty will 
approve of my ideas and that you will preserve the most abso- 
lute secrecy upon the step that I have~taken "with you. You 
will easily realize thaF'TfignATtrm^t an ce r ln "Which I find my- 
self compel the greatest circumspection on my part. That is 
why only the Baron de Breteuil is informed of my'projects, 
and Your Majesty can communicate to him whaT: you shall 
wish. I take this occasion to thank Your Majesty for the acts 
of kindness which you have shown to M. Heyman, and I ex- 



DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA 103 

perience a real delight in giving to Your Majesty the assur- 
ances of esteem and affection with which I am, 

Louis. 



19. Declaration of War Against Austria. 

April 20, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 117-118. 

The outbreak of the war between France and Austria in 1792 
was one of the turning points of the Revolution. This document 
contains a concise statement of one class of the causes which pro- 
duced the war, i.e., the avowed causes from the French stand- 
point. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 101-105 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 191-193 ; Ciapham, Causes of the War of nd,ij 
Chs. vi-ix ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gcnerale, VIII, 126- 
12s ; Sorel, L' Europe ct la Revolution Francaise, II, 516-520. 

The National Assembly, deliberating upon the formal pro- 
position of the King; considering that the Court of Vienna, in 
contempt of the treaties, has not ceased to grant an open pro- 
tection to the French rebels ; that it has instigated and formed 
a concert with several Powers of Europe against the inde- 
pendence and security of the French nation ; 

That Francis I, King of Hungary and Bohemia, has, by his 
notes of March'* 18 and April 7 last, refused to renounce this 
concert ; 

That, despite the proposition which has been made to him 
bv the note of March 11, 1792, to reduce on both sides to the 
peace basis the troops upon the frontiers, he has continued and 
augmented hostile preparations ; 

That he has formally attacked the sovereignty of the 
French nation, in declaring his determination to support the 
pretentions of the German princes to possessions in France, 
for which the French nation has not ceased to offer indem- 
nities ; 

That he has sought to divide the French citizens and to 
arm them against each other, by offering to the malcontents 
a support in the concert of the Powers ; 

Considering, finally, that the refusal to reply to the last 
despatches of the King of the French leaves no longer any 



JQ4 THREE REVOLUTIONARY DECREES 

hope of obtaining by way of an amicable negotiation the re- 
dress of these different grievances and is equivalent to a 

declaration of war ; ^ A ^4- -to of C n /^ ~ 

Decrees that there is ii^gesey. tHtUO^f^ 

The National Assembly declares that the French nation, 
faithful to the principles consecrated by its constitution, not 
to undertake any war with a viezv to making conquests, and 
never to employ its forces against the liberty of any people, 
.takes arms only to maintain its liberty and its independence ; 
That the war which it is forced to sustain is not a "war 
of nation^againstji^ation, but the just defence of a Iree people 
against the unjust aggression of a king; 

That the French will never confound their brothers with 
their real enemies; that they will neglect nothing, in order to 
alleviaTe^tBe^'scouTge^Qf war, to spare and preserve property, 
and to cause to return upon those alone, who shall league 
themselves against its liberties, all the miseries inseparable 
from war; 

That it adopts^ in advance all foreigners, who, abjuring 
the cause of iTs enemies, shaircome" to range themselves under 
its banners and to consecrat e their effo rts to tHe defence of its 
liberty that it will^a vor also, by all the means which are in 
its power, theireS2liSSBSp5^^'''France. 

Dehberating upon the formal proposition of the King, and 
after having decreed urgency, [the National Assembly] de- 
crees war against the King of Hungary and Bohemia. 



20. The Three Revolutionary Decrees. 

These three decrees were passed by the Legislative Assembly 
amid the excitement produced by the unexpected Austrian victories 
on the French frontier. Inspired by doubt regarding the King's 
competency and loyalty to the nation, they became important fac- 
tors in producing the jnovement which finally resulted in the sus- 
pension of Louis XVI on the 10th of August. To document B 
the King gave a reluctant consent ; the other two were rejected. 

References. Gardiner. French Revolution, 111-112 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution. 193-195 ; Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 189 ; 
Stephens, French Revolution, II, 78-82. 

A. Decree f or the Deportation of the Non-juring Priests. 

May 27, 1 792. Duvergier, Lois, iV, 177-178. 

The Natiojial Assembly, after having heard the report of 



THREE REVOLUTIONARY DECREES 



105 



its Committee of Twelve, considering that the troubles ex- 
cited within the kingdom by the non-juring_ ecclesiastics re- 
quire that it should apply itself without delay to the means 
of suppressing them, decrees that there is urgency; 

The National Assembly, considering that the efforts to 
overthrow the constitution, to which the non-juring eccles- 
iastics are continually devoting themselves, do not permit it 
to be supposed that these ecclesiastics desire to unite in the 
social co mpact, and that it would compromise the pubhc safety 
to regard for a longer time as members of society thg men 
who evidently are seeking to dissolve it ; considerTng that the 
laws are without force again-^t these men, who, operating up- 
on the consciences in" order to mislead them, nearly always 
conceal their criminal maneuvers from the attention of those 
who might be able to cause them to be repressed and pun- 
ished ; after having decreed up^n-cy, decrees as follows : 

1. The deportation of the non-juring_^ ecclesiastics shall 
take place as a measure of public security and of general 
police, in the case and according to the forms hereinafter set 
forth. 

2. All those are considered as non-juring ecclesiastics, 
who, being liable for the oath prescribed_by_jth£,law of De- 
cember 26, 1790, may not have taken the oath ; also those who, 
not being"subject to that law, have not taken the civic oath^ 
subsequent to September 3 last, the day whereon the French 
constitution was declared completed ; finally, those who shall 
have retracted eithe^oath, 

3. When twenty active citizens qf^ the same canton shall 
unite to ask for tfie~3eportation of a non-jurmg ecclesiastic, 
the department directory" shall be required to pronounce the 
deportation, if the opinion of the district directory is in con- 
formity with the petition. 

4. When the opinion of the district directory shall be in 
conformity with the petition, the department directory shall be 
required to cause commissioners to ascertain by examination 
whether the presence of the ecclesiastic or ecclesiastics de- 
nounced is injurious to the public tranquility, and upon the 
opinion of these commissioners, if it is in conformity with the 
petition, the department directory shall be required to pro- 
nounce the deportation. 



I06 THREE REVOLrTIONARY DECREES 

5. In case a non-juring ecclesiastic may have excited 
disturbances by overt acts, the facts may be denounced to the 
department directory by one or several active citizens, and 
after the verification of the facts, the deportation shall like- 
wise be pronounced. 

16, Those of the ecclesiastics against whom deportation 
shall have been pronounced, who may remain within the 
kingdom after having declared their retirement, or who may 
return after their departure, shall be condemned to the -pen- 
alty of imprisonmicnt for ten years. 

B. Decree for Disbanding the King's Body Guard. May 
29, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 180- 181. 

The National Assembly, considering that the admissioM 
into the existing paid guard of the King of a large number 
of persons who do not meet the conditions required for that 
service by the constitutional act ; that the spirit of mcivism 
w^ith which that body is generally animate'H^nci the condttet"^^ 
its higher officers excite just alarms and may compromise the 
personal security of the King and the public tranquilit}^, de- 
crees as follows : 

1. The existing paid g uard of the King is disb anded, and 
it shall be renewed without delay in conformity with the laws. 

2. Until tfns" renewal of the_^paid guard of the King, the 
Parisian guard shall do service about his person, just as and 
in the same manner as it did before the establishment of the 
paid guard. 

C. Decree for Establishing a Camp of Federes. June 8, 
1702. Moniteur, June 9, 1792. {Reimpression, XII, 607.) 

The National Assembly, deliberating upon the proposal 
of the minister of war converted into a motion by a member, 
and after having heard the report of its military committee, 
considering that it is urgent to convey to the frontiers the 
troops of^e^line who are in the capital ; considering that it 
is important to remove every hope of the enemies of the pub- 
lic weal who are devising conspiracies in the interior; consid- 



PETITION OF THE 20TH OF JUNE 107 

ering that it is advantageous to draw still closer at the time of 
the 14th of July the ties which unite the National Guards 
of alTthe' other departments with those of Paris, who have 
served the revolution so well and merited so well of the 
fatherland by an unlimited devotion and an arduous and con- 
stant service, decrees that there is urgency, 

The National Assembly, after having decreed urgency, 
decrees as follows : 

I. The armed force already decreed shall be augmented 
by 20,000 men. " " 

3. The 20,000 additional men shall assemble at Paris on 
the 14th of 'July'^nextr 

8. No citizen shall be allowed to enroll himself who has not 
done personal service in the National Guard since July 14, 
1790, or since the formation of the National Guard of the 
canton of his commune, or lastly slnce'lie^ has reached the age 
of 18 y^ars, unless, however, upon leaving the troops of the 
linc^ith a discharge in regular form he has directly entered 
the National Guard. 

He shall be required, besides, upon presenting himself for 
enrollment, to deliver to the municipality a certificate of civ- 
ism of the officers, under officers and National Guards of the 
company in which he served. 



21. The Petition of the 20th of June. 

June 20, 1792, Monitcur, June 22, 1792 (Reimpression, XII, 

717). 

This petition was carried to the Legislative Assembly by the 
great crowd which after presenting it broke into the Tuileries on 
June 20, 1792. Two features of it deserve attention: (1) what 
it shows as to the state of mind of the people of Paris, (2) th« 
precise character of its demand in regard to the King. The pro- 
gress of events may be traced by comparing it with No. 23. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 111-114 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 195-197 ; Stephens, French Revolution, II, 82- 
97. 

Legislators, the French people come today to present to you 



I08 PETITION OF THE 20TH OF JUNE 

their fears and their anxieties; it is in your midst that they 
set forth their alarms and that they hope to find at last the 
remedy for their ills. This day recalls the memorable date of 
the 20th of June, the Tennis Court in which the representatives 
3yv . of the people m^et and swore in the face of Heaven not to 

abandon our cause and to die in defence of it. 

Recall, gentlemen, that sacred oath and allow these same peo - 
pie, afflicted in their turn, to ask you if you will abandon them. 
In the name of the nation, which has fixed its eyes upon this 
city, we come to assure you that the people are aroused, .that 
they are equal to the occasion and are ready to make use of 
unusual methods in order to avenge the majesty of the out- 
raged people. These extreme means are justified by article 2 of 
the Declaration of the Rights of Man, resistance to oppression. 

What a misfortune, however, for the free men who have 
entrusted to you all their powers to see themselves reduced to 
the cruel necessity of steeping their hands in the blood of the 
conspirators ! It is no longer time to cofrc^al*'if':"tKe~^lot is 
discoverecl ; the hour has arrived. Blood will flo-vPcTTtlie tree 
of liberty which we are about to plant will blossom in peace. 

Legislators, do not let this language astonish you. We do 
not belong to any party; we do not wish to adopt anything 
other than what shall be in accord with the constitution. Could 
the enemies of the fatherland imagine that the men of the 14th 
of July are asleep? IFTh'ey^Iia^THaT ap^^ awak- 

ening is terrible; they have lost none of_^heir energy. The 
■ immortal Declaration of the Rights of Man is too profoundly 
graven upon their hearts. That precious boon, that boon of all 
the nations will be defended by them an^ nothing* sliall be 
capable of depriving them of it. It is time, gentlemen, to put 
in execution that article 2 of the Rights of Man. Follow the 
example of the Ciceros and Demosthenes and unveil in open 
senate the perfidious machinations of the Catalines. You have 
men animated by the sacred fire of patriotism : let them speak, 
and we will act. It is in you that the public safety now re- 
sides. We have always believed that our union made our 
strength. Union and general harmony ought to rule in a still 
greater degree among you ; we have always believed that when 
the interests of the State were under discussion they alone 
ought to be looked to, and that the legislator ought to have 
a heart inaccessible to any individual interest. The image of 



PETITION OF THE 20TH OF JUNE 109 

the fatherland being the sole divinity which it is permissible 
to adore, could that divinity so dear to all Frenchmen exist 
even in its temple, for deserters from its worship? could it 
live? Let the friends of arbitrary power speak! let them make 
themselves known ! The people, the true sovereign, is there to 
judge them. Their place is not here ; let the land of liberty be 
purged of them; let them go to Coblentz to join the Emigres. 
Near them, their hearts will expand; there fhey will distill 
their venom; they will plot without regret; there they will 
conspire against their fatherland, which will never tremble. 

It was thus that Cicero spoke in the senate of Rome, wheii 
he was pressing the traitor Cataline to go to join the camp of 
the traitors to the fatherlan'd.' Then cause to~^ carried into 
effect the constitution and the will of the people who sustain 
you, and who will perish in order to defend jou. Unite, act ; 
it is time. Yes, it is time, legislators, that the French people 
show themselves worthy of the character which they have as- 
sumed. They have overthrown prejudices; they intend to re- 
main free and to- deliver themselves from the tyrants leagued 
against them. You know the tyrants ; do not yield before them, 
since a simple declaration often overwhelms the will of despots. 

The executive pov/er is not in accord with you. We do not 
wish for any other proof of it than the dismissal of the pa- 
triotic ministers. Is it thus then that the welfare of a free 
people shall depend upon the caprice of a king? but ought this 
king to have any^'ofthef will than that of the law ? The people 
willed him thus ; and their head is indeed worth that of the 
crowned despots. That head is the genealogical tree of the na- 
tion ; and before that robust oak, the feeble reed must bend. 

We complain, gentlemen, of the inaction of our armies. 
We ask that you ascertain the cause of it. If it springs from 
the executive power, let it be abolished ! The blood of the 
patriots ought not to flow to satisfy the arrogance' and am- 
bition of the perfidious chateau of tHe Tuileries. 

Who then can stop us in our march? Shall we behold our 
armies perish by parts? The cause being a common one, thf: 
action ought to be general ; and if the first defenders of liberty 
had thus temporised, would you have been sitting today in this 
august areopagus? 

Reflect well herein : nothing can stop you ; liberty cannot be 
suspended. If the executive power does not act, there can be 



jjQ ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY 

no other alternative; it is that which must cease to be: a 
single man must not influence the determination of 25 
millions ~ of men. If, out of respect, we maintain him in 
his post, it is on condition that he will fill it constitutionally- 
if he deviates therefrom he is no longer anything to the French 
peoole. 

We complain, finally, of the delays of the High National 
Court: you have entrusted to it the sword of the law; why 
does it wait to lay a heavy hand upon the head of the guilty? 
Has the civil list here again some influence? Are there priv- 
ileged criminals whom it may with impunity shelter fro:n 
the vengeance of the law? Shall the people be forced to go 
back to the date of the 14th of July, to take up that sword 
again themselves, to avenge at a single stroke the outraged 
law, and to punish the guilty and pusillanimous depositories of 
that same law? No, gentlemen, no; you see our fears and our 
alarms, and you will dissipate them. 

We have set forth in your midst a great anguish; v/e have 
opened our long since embittered hearts ; we hope that the 
last cry which we address to you will make itself felt among 
you. The people are there; they await in silence a response 
worthy of their sovereignty. Legislators, we ask for the 
permanence of our arms until the constitution be put into 
execution. 

This petition is not that of the inhabitants of the Faubourg 
Saint-Antoine alone, but of all the sections of the capital 
and oTThe environs of Paris. Ttie petitioners of this address 
ask to have the honor of filing before you. 

22. Addresses to the Legislative Assembly. 

These addresses are typical of the many sent to the Legislative 
Assembly from all parts of France between June 20 and August 
10, 1792. From them much may be learned about the character of 
the movement which finally resulted in the suspension of the 
King. Both the reasons assigned for action against him and the 
measures demanded should receive attention. 

Referencf,. Aulard, Revohdion Francaise, 192-205, has a care- 
ful study of the entire series of addresses. 

A. Address of the Commune of Marseilles, June 2,7, 1792. 
Archives Parlementaires, XLVT;' 383^84. -^™-- ^ ,* 

Legislators, the nation entrusts to you the maintenance and 



] 



ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY m 

defence of its liberty, its independence, and the sovereignty of 
its rights. The law relative to royalty, which your predeces- 
sors established without any regard for the objections and com- 
plaints of the nation, is contrary to the rights of man. It is 
time that that tyrannical law should be finally abolished, that 
the nation should make use of all its rights, and that it should 
govern itself. 

Legislators, the principles of the Constitution of every 
free nation, v/hich your predecessors have decreed, which the 
French have adopted, and which they have sworn to defend, 
give us the right to these. These are : "Men are horn and 
remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions tan be 
based only upon public utilit}'." 

"The aim of every political association is the preservation 
of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights 
are liberty, propert}^, security, and resistance to oppression." 

"All citizens are equal in the eyes of the law; all arei«-« 
equally admissible to all the dignities, public places and em- "-* 
ployments, according to their capacities, and without any other 
distinction than that of their virtues and their talents." 

Such, legislators, are the eternal foundations of all polit- 
ical principles. Anything which is contrary to these principles 
ought to be rejected from a free Constitution, How then 
could our ConstjtuentsV your predecessors, establish upon these 
foundations that monstrous jQret^ns^on_of__a_special family to 
which s'hould_be_delegated hereditarily the royalty, from male 
to male, by order of primogeniture ? How can there be that 
reigning family in a time in which everything mulFIBF^egen- 
erated? What has that reigning family done to be p'fefeTred 
to every other? Is tmecessary to' make a law for the in- 
violability of one person? Does that inviolability guarantee it 
against the steef oT assassins ? Is not the privilege subversive 
of every principle? WHo^ would recognize there the principles 
of that sovereign reason which had consecrated the impre- 
scriptible rights of man, in decreeing that there should no 
longer exist any hereditary distinction? Is this supreme dis- 
tinction founded upon public utility? Who is the wise Constit- 
uent who can assure and guarantee that the son of the great- 
est and most just of kings will be like his father? that he will 
not be a traitor, a scoundrel? Would it be .necessary, then, 



112 ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY 

in conformity witii that pernicious law, that although he 
should be depraved, he might with impunity bring wretched- 
ness upon men whom that same law submitted to the fury 
of his crimes? No, legislators, it is only the hired abettors 
of tyranny who have been capable of abandoning themselves 
to that delirmm ! and it is in the sanctuary destined for the tri- 
umph of liberty, reason, and justice, that that usurped pre- 
tension has obtained the force of law! What infamy! The 
nation cannot subscribe to it. It once made vain objections; 
it desires today that they may be effective. It has the incon 
testable right to approve or to reject the laws which its repre- 
sentatives impose upon it, since it is the only sovereign. 

What has this ruling family done to be elevated to this 
post? Was it the ruin of our finances, wais it the sceptre of 
iron with which it ruled us who had prepared that homage, 
while robbing us of our gold and exhausting our substance? 
or, indeed, was it the hereditary descendants of that family, 
prolific of rebellious Emigres, who, charged with debts, ac- 
cusations and crimes, our Constituents would have wished to 
force us to recognize as masters ? Do not be offended by that 
word, legislators, it signifies nothing for us. But such is 
the pretension of kings, such is the intention of cowards and 
slaves. 

May not the gold of that enormous civil list, which cannot 
be diminished before the date of each change of reign, per- 
petuate the means of corruption? and may not these means 
ruin the nation before it has the right to abolish them? And 
that independent guard which our Constituents have granted 
to their king and which the nation pays by keeping up the 
civil list, can there be a- private force by the terms of the Rights 
of Man? And if it is a public force, can it serve the King alone? 
And that law, by which the choice and dismissal of the min- 
isters belong to the King alone, is it not, despite their pre- 
tended responsibility, an inexhaustible source of abuses, crimes 
and disorders, a source of eternal divisions and contradictions? 
And, finally, that suspensive veto, put in opposition to our 
best laws by the authority of a single person and contrary to 
the general will, does it not radically destroy our Constitution ? 
Can the legislative power exist in the presence of that de- 
structive law of the absolute executive power? And can the 



ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY 



113 



judicial power, to which the legislative power gives existence 
and life, continue to be effective, if the executive power par 
alyzes our laws? 

Avow, legislators, that our Constituents have settled noth- 
ing at all ; and if you wish to be something, if you wish to be 
useful to the nation, abrogate a law which renders null the 
national will. 

We all know the history of our disasters, it would be 
useless to recall it. The indignation which it provokes has 
reached its climax. Let us make haste to destroy the cause 
and to re-establish ourselves in our rights. Let the execu 
tive power be appointed and renewed by the people, as are, 
with some slight differences, the other two powers, and soon 
all will be re-established. 

Done ait Marseilles, at the communal building, June 27, the 
fourth year of liberty. 

B. Address of the Federes at Paris. July 23, 1792. Arch- 
ives Parlev.icntaires, XLVII, 69-70. 

Representatives elected by the people to defend and preserve 
their rights, listen to-day once more to the cry of their grief. 

Some weeks have passed since you declared that the father- 
land was in danger and you do not indicate to us any m.eans of 
saving it. Can you still ignore the cause of our evils, or ignore 
th'e remedies for them? Well, legislators, we citizens of the 83 
departments, we, whom love of liberty alone has brought here, 
we, who are strong in the deliberate and strongly pronounced 
opinion of all the French, point out to you that remedy. We 
say to you that the source of our evils is in the abuse which 
the head of the executive power has made of his author- 
ity ; we say to you that it is also in the staffs of the army, in 
a large portion of the department and district directories and in 
the tribunals. Let us say to you once more, with the frankness 
of a free people and one which holds itself ready to defend 
its rights, that it exists in part in your midst. 

Legislators, the peril is imminent, it can no longer be dis- 
simulated, it is necessary that the reign of the truth commence ; 
we are courageous enough to come to tell it to you, be cour- 
ageous enough to hear it. 

Deliberate, during the sitting and without leaving the 



114 ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY 

place, upon the one means to remedy our evils ; suspend the 
executive power as was done last year; thereby you will cut 
the root of all our evils. We know that the constitution does 
not speak of deposition ; but in order to declare that the King 
has forfeited the throne it is necessary to try him, and in order 
to try him it is necessary that the King should be temporarily 
suspended. Convoke the primary assemblies, in order to put 
yourselves in a position to learn, in an indirect manner, the 
desire of the majority of the people for the national convoca- 
tion upon the so-called constitutional articles relative to_ the 
executive power. 

Legislators, there is not an hour nor a second to lose, the 
evil is at its height, avert from your fatherland a universal 
shock, make use of all the power which is entrusted to you 
and save it yourselves. Would you fear to call down upon 
your heads a terrible responsibility, or indeed (what we- cannot 
beheve) would you wish to give to the nation a proof of im- 
potency? There would remain to it no more than one re- 
source, that of displaying all its strength and sweeping away 
its tyrants. We have all, both you and we, sworn a hundred 
times to live free and to die in defending our rights. Well, 
we have come to renew that oath which makes despots trem- 
ble when it is pronounced by men who know how to feel 
strongly. We shall either emerge from this conflict free or 
■ else the tomb of liberty shall be ours. 

C. Address of the Paris Sections. August 3, 1792. Archives 
Parlementatres, XLVII, 425-427. 

Legislators, it is when the fatherland is in danger that all 
its children ought to press around it; and never has so great 
a peril threatened the fatherland. The commune of Paris 
sends us to you; we come to bring into the sanctuary of the 
laws the opinion of an immense city. Filled with respect for 
the representatives of the nation, full of confidence in their 
courageous patriotism, it has not despaired of the public 
safety; but it believes that to cure the ills of France it is 
necessary to attack them in their source and not to lose a mo- 
ment. It is with grief that it denounces to you, through our 
agency, the head of the executive power. Without doubt, the 
•■people have the right to be indignant with him ; but the Ian- 



ADDRESSES TO THE ASf^EMBLY 



115 



guage of anger does not befit brave men. Compelled by Louis 
XVI to accuse him before you and before all France, we shall 
accuse him without bitterness as without pusillanimous defer- 
ence. It is no longer time to listen to that protracted indul- 
gence which befits generous peoples, but which encourages 
kings to perjury; and the most respectable passions must be 
silent when the saving of the State is in question. 

We shall not retrace for you the entire conduct of Louis 
XVI since the first days of the Revolution, his sanguinary 
projects against the city of Paris, his predilection for nobles 
and priests, the aversion which he exhibited to the body of the 
people, the National Constituent Assembly outraged by court 
valets, invested by men of arms, wandering in the midst of a 
royal city and finding an asylum only in a tennis court. We 
shall not retrace for you the oaths so many times violated, the 
protestations renewed incessantly and incessantly contradicted 
by actions, up to the moment at which a perfidious flight came 
to open the eyes of the citizens most blinded by the fanaticism 
of slavery. We shall leave at one side everything which is 
covered by the pardon of the people; but pardon is not obliv- 
ion. It would be in vain, moreover, should we be able to for- 
get these delinquencies ; they will soil the pages of history and 
posterity will remember them. 

However, legislators, it is our duty to remind you in rapid 
terms of the favors conferred by the nation upon Louis XVI 
and of the ingratitude of that prince. How many reasons 
there were for depriving him of the throne at the moment in 
which the people reconquered the sovereignty ! The memory 
of an imperious and devouring dynasty, in which scarcely 
one king is reckoned against twenty tyrants, the hereditary 
despotism increasing from reign to reign with the misery of 
the people, the public finances entirely ruined by Louis XVI 
and his two predecessors, infamous treaties ruining the r^ation- 
al honor, the eternal enemies of France becoming its allies 
and its masters : these are what constituted the rights of Louis 
XVI to the constitutional sceptre. The nation, faithful to its 
character, has preferred to be generous rather than prudent: 
the despot of an enslaved land has become the king of a free 
people : after having attempted to flee from France, in order to 
reign at Coblentz, he has been replaced upon the throne, 



Il6 ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY 

perhaps contrary to the wish of the nation which ought to have 
been consulted. 

Favors without number have followed that great favor. 
We have seen in the last days of the Constituent Assembly 
the rights of the people enfeebled in order to strengthen the 
royal authority, the first public functionary become an hered- 
itary representative, a military establishment created for the 
splendor of his throne, and his legal authority supported by a 
civil list which has no other limits than those which he has 
wished to prescribe for it. 

And we have speedily seen the favors of the nation turned 
against it. The power delegated to Louis XVI for the main- 
tenance of liberty arms itself in order to overthrow if. Let 
us cast a glance over the interior of the Empire. Perverse 
ministers are removed by the irresistible force of public con- 
tempt ; they are the ones for whom Louis XVI mourns. 
Their successors notify the nation and the king of the danger 
which surrounds the fatherland ; they are dismissed by Louis 
XVI for having shown themselves citizens. The royal inviol- 
ability and the perpetual change of the ministry each day elude 
the responsibility of the agents of the executive power, A con- 
spiring guard is dissolved in appearance; but it still exists: 
it is still paid by Louis XVI ; it sows trouble and promotes 
civil war. Turbulent priests, abusing their power over timid 
consciences, arm children against their fathers ; and from 
the land of liberty they send forth new soldiers under the ban- 
ners of servitude. These enemies of the people are protected 
by the appeal to the people, and Louis XVI maintains for 
them the right to conspire. Coalesced department directories 
dare to constitute themselves arbiters between the National 
Assembly and the King. They form a species of dispersed 
High Chamber in the midst of the Empire; some even usurp 
the legislative authority; and in consequence of a profound 
ignorance, while declaiming against the repubhcans, they seem 
to wish to organize France into a federative republic. It is in 
the name cf the King that they inflame intestinal divisions ; and 
the King does not disavow with indignation two hundred stupid 
and guilty administrators repudiated from one end of France 
to the other by the immense majority of the administrations! 
Abroad, armed enemies threaten our territory. Two des- 



ADDRESSES TO THE ASSEMBLY ny 

pots publish against tlie French nation a manifesto as insolent 
as absurd. French parricides, led by the brothers, kinsmen and 
connections of the King, prepare to rend the bosom of their 
fatherland. Already the enemy upon our frontiers places exe- 
cutioners in opposition to our warriors. And it is to avenge 
Louis XVI that the national sovereignty is impudently out- 
raged; it is to avenge Louis XVI that the execrable House 
of Austria adds a new chapter to the history of its cruelties ; 
it is to avenge Louis XVI that the tyrants have renewed 
the wish of Caligula, and that they would wish to destroy at a 
single blow all the citizens of France ! 

The flattering promises of a minister have caused the declar- 
ation of war, and we have commenced it with armies incom- 
plete and destitute of everything. 

Belgium calls upon us in vain ; perverse orders have re- 
strained the ardor of our soldiers ; our first steps into those 
fair countries have been marked by conflagration ; and the in- 
cendiary is still in the midst of the camp of the French ! All 
the decrees which the National Assembly have rendered for the 
purpose of re-enforcing our troops are annulled by the lefusal 
of the sanction or by perfidious delays. And the enemy ad- 
vances with rapid steps, while patricians command the armies 
of equality, while our generals leave their posts in the face of 
the enemy, permit the armed force to deliberate, come to pre- 
sent to the legislators their opinions which cannot be legaJly 
expressed, and calumniate a free people whom it is their duty 
to defend. 

The head of the executive power is the first link in the 
counter revolutionary chain. He seems to participate in the 
conspiracies of Pilnitz, which he has made known so lately. 
His name contends each day against that of the nation ; his 
name is a signal of discord between the people and their mag- 
istrates, between the soldiers and the generals. He has sep- 
arated his interests from those of the nation. Let us separate 
tiiem as he has done. Far from putting himself by a formal 
act in opposition to the enemies within and without, his con- 
duct is a formal and perpetual act of disobedience to the Con- 
stitution. As long as we shall have such a king, liberty can- 
not strengthen itself; and we are determined to remain free. 
By a stretch of indulgence we might have desired authority to 



Il8 THE BRUNSWICK MANIFESTO 

ask you for the suspension of Louis XVI as long as the dan- 
ger of the fatherland shall continue; but the Constitution pre- 
cludes that. Louis XVI invokes the Constitution incessantly; 
we invoke it in our turn and ask for his deposition. 

That great measure once taken, since it is very doubtful 
whether the nation can have confidence in the present dynasty^ 
we ask that ministers, jointly and severally responsible, se- 
lected by the National Assembly, but outside of its own body, 
according to the constitutional law, selected by the open vote 
of free men, may exercise provisionally the executive power 
while waiting for the will of the people, our sovereign and 
yours, to be legally pronounced in a National Convention, as 
soon as the security of the State may permit it. Meanwhile let 
our enemies, whoever they may be, all range themselves be- 
yond our frontiers; let dastards and perjurers abandon the soil 
o± liberty ; let 300,000 slaves advance ; they will find before 
them 10 millions of free men, as ready for death as for vic- 
tory, fighting for equality, for the paternal roof, for their 
wives, their children and their aged ones. Let each of us be 
soldiers in turn ; and if it is necessary to have the honor of 
dying for the fatherland, before yielding the last breath, let 
each of us make his memory illustrious by the death of a slave 
or a tyrant. 



23. The Duke of Brunswick's Manifesto. 



July 25, 1792. Archives Parlementaires, XLVII, .'rr2-373. 

This document sealed the fate of the old monarchy. Known 
at Paris on July 28. when the agitation for the suspension of the 
King had already attained great strength, it gave the final im- 
pulse to that movement. Its authorship has been much discussed 
and it is now clear that the document was substantially the work 
of Emigres. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 114-115 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 198-199 ; Stepliens, French Revolution, II, 105 
106; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 139-140; 
Sorel, L'Europe ct la Revolution Francnise, II, 503-515. 

Their Majesties, the Emperor and the King of Prussia, 
having committed to me the command of the united armies 
which they have caused to assemble on the frontiers of 



TPIE BRUNSWICK MANIFESTO Hg 

France, I have wished to announce to the inhabitants of 
this kingdom, the motives which have determined the meas- 
ures of the two sovereigns and the intentions which guide 
them. After having arbitrarily suppressed the rights and 
possessions of the German Princes in Alsace and Lorraine, 
disturbed and overthrown good order and legitimate govern- 
ment in the interior; exercised, against the sacred person of 
the king and his august family, outrages and brutalities which 
are still carried on and renewed day by day; those who have 
usurped the reins of the Administration have at last com- 
pleted their work by declaring an unjust war against his Maj- 
esty the Emperor and by attacking his provinces situated in 
the Low Countries. Some of the possessions of the Ger- 
manic Empire have been enveloped in this oppression, and 
several others have only escaped the same danger by yielding 
to the imperious threats of the dominant party and of its 
emissaries. 

His Majesty the King of Prussia, united with his Im- 
perial Majesty by the bonds of a strict defensive alliance and 
himself the preponderant member of the Germanic body, could 
not excuse himself from marching to the help of his ally and 
his Co-State; and it is under this double relationship that 
he takes up the defence of this monarch and of Germany. 

To these great interests is added another aim equally 
important and very dear to the hearts of the two sovereigns ; 
it is to put an end to the anarchy in the interior of France^ 
to stop the attacks carried on against the throne and the 
altar, to re-establish the legal power, to restore tO' the King 
the security and liberty of which he is deprived, and to put 
him in a position to exercise the legitimate authority which 
is his due. 

Convinced that the sound part of the French nation ab- 
hors the excesses of a faction which dominates it, and that 
the greatest number of the inhabitants look forward with 
impatience to the moment of relief to declare themselves open- 
ly against the odious enterprises of their oppressors, his Maj- 
esty the Emperor and his Majesty the King of Prussia, call 
upon them and invite them to return without delay to the ways 
cf reason, justice, order and peace. It is in accordance with' 



120 THE BRUNSWICK MANIFESTO 

these views, that I, the undersigned, the General, commanding 
in chief the two armies, declare : 

1. That, drawn into the present war by irresistible circum- 
stances, the two alhed courts propose to themselves no other 
aim than the welfare of France and have no intention of en- 
riching themselves by conquests ; 

2. That they do not intend to meddle with the Internal 
government of France, but that they merely wish to deliver 
the King, the Queen and the royal family from their captivity, 
and to procure for His Most Christian Majesty the necessary 
security that he may make without danger or hindrance the 
conventions which he shall judge suitable and may work for 
the welfare of his subjects, according to his promises and as 
far as it shall depend upon him; 

3. That the combined armies will protect the town';, bor- 
oughs and villages and the persons and goods of those who 
shall submit to the King and who shall co-operate in the im- 
mediate re-establishment of order and of the police in the 
whole of France; 

4. That the National Guard will be called upon to 
watch provisionally over the peace of the towns and country 
districts, the security of the persons and goods of all French- 
men, until the arrival of the troops of their Imperial and Royal 
Majesties, or until otherwise ordered, under pain of being 
personally responsible; that on the contrary, those of the 
National Guard who shall fight against the troops of the 
two allied courts, and who shall be taken with arms in their 
hands, will be treated as enemies and punished as rebels to 
their King and as disturbers of the public peace; 

5. That the generals, officers, under officers and troops 
of the French line are likewise summoned to return tn their 
former fidelity and to submit themselves at once to the 
King, their legitimate sovereign; 

6. That the members of the departments, of the districts 
and municipalities shall likewise answer with their heads and 
their goods for all offences, fires, murders, pillaging, and acts 
of violence, which they shall allow to be committed, or which 
they have not manifestly exerted themselves to prevent within 
their territory; that they shall likewise be required to con- 
tmue their functions provisionally, until His Most Christian 



THE BRUNSWICK MANIFESTO 121 

Majesty, being once more at liberty, may have provided for 
them subsequently or until it shall have been otherwise 
ordained in his name in the meantime; 

7. That the inhabitants of the towns, boroughs and vil- 
lages who may dare to defend themselves against the troops 
of their Imperial and Royal Majesties and fire on them either 
in the open country, or through the windows, doors and open- 
ings of their houses, shall be punished immediately accord- 
ing to the strictness of the law of war, and their houses de- 
stroyed or burned. On the contrary, all the inhabitants 
of the said towns, boroughs and villages, who shall submit 
to their King, opening their doors to the troops of their 
Majesties, shall at once be placed under their immediate pro- 
tection; their persons, their property, and their effects shall be 
under the protection of the laws, and the general security 
of all and each of them shall be provided for; 

8. The city of Paris and all its inhabitants without distinc- 
tion shall be required to submit at once and without delay 
to the King, to put that prince in full and perfect liberty, and 
to assure him as well as the other royal personages the in- 
violability and respect which the law of nations and men re- 
quires of subjects toward their sovereigns; their Imperial and 
Royal Majesties declare personally responsible with their lives 
for all events, to be tried by military law and without hope 
of pardon, all the members of the National Assembly, of the 
department, district, municipality and National Guard of Paris, 
the justices of the peace and all others that shall be con- 
cerned; their said Majesties also declare on their honor 
and on their word as Emperor and King, that if the Chateau 
of the Tuileries, be entered by force or attacked, if the least 
violence or outrage be offered to their Majesties, the King, 
Queen and royal family, if their preservation and their liberty 
be not immediately provided for, they will exact an exemplary 
and ever-memorable vengeance, by delivering the city of Paris 
over to a military execution and to complete ruin, and the 
rebels guilty of these outrages to the punishments they shall 
have deserved. Their Imperial Royal Majesties, 011 the con- 
trary, promise the inhabitants of Paris to employ their good 
offices with His Most Christian Majesty to obtain pardon for 
their misdeeds and errors, and to take the most vigorous meas- 



122 DECREE SUSPENDING LOUIS XVI 

ures to assure their lives and property, if they obey promptly 
and exactly all the above mentioned order. 

Finally, their Majesties being able to recognize as laws in 
France only those which shall emanate from the King, 
in the enjoyment of a perfect liberty, protest beforehand 
against the authenticity of any declarations which may be made 
in the name of His Most Christian Majesty, so long as his 
sacred person, that of the queen, and those of the royal fam- 
ily shall not be really in security, . for the effecting of which 
their Imperial and Royal Majesties beg His Most Christian 
Majesty to appoint the city in his kingdom nearest the fron- 
tiers, to which he would prefer to retire with the Queen and 
his family under good and sufficient escort, which will be 
furnished him for this purpose, so that His Most Christian 
Majesty ma} in all security summon such ministers and coun- 
cillors as he may see fit, hold such meetings as he deems best, 
provide for the re-establishment of good order and regulate 
the admmistration of his kingdom. 

Finally, I declare and bind myself, moreover, in my own 
private name and in my above capacity, to cause the troops en- 
trusted to my command to observe a good and exact disci- 
pline, promising to treat with kindness and moderation all 
well intentioned subjects who show themselves peaceful and 
submissive, and only to use force against those who shall make 
themselves guilty of resistance and ill-will. 

It is for these reasons that I call upon and exhcrt all 
the inhabitants of the kingdom in the strongest and most 
urgent manner not to oppose the march and the operations of 
the troops which I command, but rather to grant them every- 
where a free passage and with every good will to aid and 
assist as circumstances shall require. 

Given an the head-quarters at Coblentz, July 25, 1792. 

Signed, Charles William Ferdinand, 

Duke of Brunswick-Lunebourg. 



24. Decree for Suspending Louis XVI. 

August 10, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 190-291. 

This decree was passed by the Legislative Assembly after the 
storming of the Tuileries. Every feature of it is important. The 



DECREE SUSPENDING LOUIS XVI 



I -'.3 



precise action with reference to the King, the character of the 
provisional arrangements, and the phraseology of the document 
should receive careful attention. 

Refbubnces. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 130-131 ; Aulard, 
Revolution Francaise, 215-220. 

The National Assembly, considering that the dangers of the 
fatherland have reached their height; 

That it is for the Legislative Body the most sacred of du- 
ties to employ all means to save it ; 

That it is impossible to find efficacious ones, unless they 
shall occupy themselves with removing the source of its 
evils ; 

Considering that these evils spring principally ^from the 
misgivings which the conduct of the head of the executive 
power has inspired, in a war undertaken in his name against 
the constitution and the national independence ; 

That these misgivings have provoked from different parts 
of the Empire a desire tending to the revocation of the author- 
ity delegated to Louis XVI; 

Considering, nevertheless, that the Legislative Body ought 
not to wish to aggrandize itself by any usurpation ; 

That in the extraordinary circumstances wherein events 
unprovided for by any of the laws have placed it, it cannot 
reconcile what it owes, in its unshaken fidelity to the consti- 
tution, with the firm resolve to be buried under the ruins of 
the temple of Liberty rather than to permit it to perish, ex- 
cept by recurring to the sovereignty of the people and by taking 
at the same time the precautions which are indispensable, in 
order that this recourse may not be rendered illusory by 
treasons ; decrees as follows : 

1. The French people are invited to form a National Con- 
vention; the extraordinary commission shall present tomorrow 
a proposal to indicate the method and the time of this con- 
vention. 

2. The head of the executive power is provisionally sus- 
pended from his functions until the National Convention has 
pronounced upon the measures which it believes ought to be 
adopted in order to assure the sovereignty of the people and 
the reign of liberty and equality. 

3. The extraordinary commission shall present within 



124 



DECREE FOR THE CONVENTION 



the day a method for organizing a new ministry; the ministers 
actually in service shall continue provisionally the exercise of 
their functions. 

4. The extraordinary commission shall present, likewise, 
within the day, a proposal for a decree upon the selection of 
a governor of the prince royal. 

5. The payment of the civil list shall continue suspended 
until the decision of the National Convention. The extra- 
ordinary commission shall present, wnthin twenty-four hours, a 
proposal for a decree upon the stipend to be granted to the 
King during the suspension. 

6. The registers of the civil list shall be deposited in the 
office of the National Assembly, after having been numbered 
and attested by two commissioners of the Assembly, who shall 
repair for that purpose to the intendant of the civil list. 

7. The King and his family shall reside within the pre^ 
cincts of the Legislative Body until quiet may be re-established 
in Paris. 

8. The department shall give orders to cause to be pre^- 
pared for them within the day a lodging at the Luxem- 
bourg, where they shall be put under the custody of the citi- 
zens and the law. 

9. Every public functionary, every soldier, under-officer, 
officer, of whatever grade he may be, and general of an army, 
who in these days of alarm shall abandon his post, is declared 
infamous and traitorous to the fatherland. 

10. The department and the municipality of Paris shall 
cause the present decree to be immediately and solemnly pro- 
claimed. 

11. It shall be sent by extraordinary couriers to the 
eighty-three departments, which shall be required to cause 
it to reach the municipalities of their jurisdiction within 
twenty-four hours, in order to be proclaimed with the same 
solemnity. 



25. Decree for Electing the Convention. 

August 11, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, IV, 297. 

This decree was the work of the Legislative Assembly, which 
continued in session until the Convention met on September 21. 



DECREE FOR THE CONVENTION 125 

The kind of authority to which the Assembly laid claim and the 
points in which the electoral arrangements of this decree differ 
from those of the Constitution of 1791 should be noted. 

Reference. Aulard, Reooliition Francaibe, 239-241. 

The National Assembly, considering that it has njt the 
right to submit to imperative regulations the exercise of the 
sovereignty in the formation of a National Convention, and 
that, nevertheless, it is important for the public safety that the 
primary and electoral assemblies should form themselves at the 
same time, should act with uniformity, and that the National 
Convention should be promptly assembled, 

Invites the citizens, in the name of liberty, equality, and 
the fatherland, to conform themselves to the following regu- 
lations : 

1. The primary assemblies shall select the same number 
of electors as they have selected in the last elections. 

2. The distinction of Frenchmen into active and non-active 
citizens shall be suppressed ; and in order to be admitted to 
them, it shall suffice to be French, twenty-one years of age, 
domiciled for a year, living from his income or the product of 
his labor, and not being in the status of a household servant. 
As to those who, meeting the conditions of activity, were sum- 
moned by the law to take the civic oath, they shall be bound, in 
order to be admitted, to give proof of the taking of that oath. 

3. The conditions of eligibility demanded for the electors 
or for the representatives not being applicable to a National 
Convention, it shall suffice, in order to be eligible as deputy or 
as elector, to be twenty-five years of age and to unite the con- 
ditions demanded by the preceding article. 

4. Each department shall select the number of deputies and 
alternates which it has selected for the existing legislature. 

5. The elections shall take place according to the same 
method as for the legislative assemblies. 

6. The primary assemblies are invited to invest their rep- 
resentatives with an unlimited confidence. 

7. The primary assemblies shall meet on Sunday, August 
26, in order to choose the electors. 

8. The electors chosen by the primary assemblies shall 
meet on Sunday, September 2, in order to proceed to the elec- 
tion of the deputies to the National Convention. 



126 JACOBIN CLUB ADDRESS 

9. The electoral assemblies shall sit in the places indicated 
by the table which shall be annexed to the present decree. 

10. On account of the necessity of hastening the elec- 
tions, the presidents, secretaries, and tellers, both in the pri- 
mary assemblies and in the electoral assemblies, shall be chosen 
by plurality and by a single ballot. 

11. The choice of the primary assemblies and the electoral 
assemblies may fall upon any citizen uniting the conditions 
above restored, whatever may be the public functions v/hich he 
exercises or which he may have formerly exercised. 

12. The citizens in the primary assemblies, and the electors 
in the electoral assemblies, shall take the oath to maintain lib- 
erty and equality or to die in defending them. 

13. The deputies shall repair to Paris on September 20, 
and they shall cause themselves to be enrolled at the archives 
of the National Assembly. When they shall be two hundred 
in number, the National Assembly shall indicate the day of 
the opening of their sittings. 

14. The National Assembly, after having indicated to the 
French citizens the regulations to which it believes it ought 
to invite them to conform themselves, considering that cir- 
cumstances and justice alike urge a compensation in favor 
of the electors, decree that the electors who shall be obliged to 
go away from their domicile shall receive twenty sous per 
league, and three livres per day of sojourn. 

The principal administration of the place where the 
electoral assemblies shall meet is authorised to deliver the 
necessary orders for the payment of the compensation due to 
the electors, subject to causing the replacement of it in the cof- 
fers of the district, upon the production of the additional sous 
from the department. 

The above instruction and decree shall be, for more prompt 
dispatch, addressed directly to both the district administrations 
and the departm.ent administrations ; there shall be sent to each 
district administration a sufficient number of copies in order 
that they may transmit it without delay to each municipality. 



26. The Jacobin Club Address. 

Septenibei- 12, 1702. Anlard, Jacohins, IV, 280-281. 

During the interval between the 10th of August and the meet- 



JAOOBIxN CLUB ADDRESS 



127 



ing of the Convention on September 21, 1792, the Jacobin Club 
closely followed and accurately expressed the tendency of public 
opinion in France upon the question of the permanent form of 
government. This address, representing the fin0,l position of the 
. club, had considerable influence in the way of preparing for the 
Republic. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 239-241. 

The Mother Society has seen itself obliged to interrupt 
its correspondence since the loth of August; this is not be- 
cause it has thought that that famous day was the end of all 
the conspiracies and of all the intrigues ; a large portion of its 
members have received from the public confidence places in 
the provisional administrations, juries, etc. But the Society, 
become a little more numerous, has expressed its desire to 
resume an active correspondence with its brothers of the de- 
partments, persuaded that circumstances dem.and more than 
ever fraternal communications between all the Patriotic So- 
cieties. 

Since the loth of August conspirators have expiated their 
offences ; the public spirit has risen again ; the sovereign, re- 
covered possession of its rights, triumphs at length over the 
scoundrels leagued against its liberty and its welfare. Never- 
theless, the people of Paris have felt the necessity of preserv- 
ing an imposing attitude and of exercising a strict surveillance 
over the Minions and agents of the traitor, Louis the Last. 
Be apprehensive, brothers and friends, lest new intrigues shall 
follow the baffled intrigues. The head, the cause and the pre- 
text of the machinations still lives ! Despotism moves in the 
darkness : let us be ready to engage in a combat to the death 
with it, under whatever form it presents itself. 

The great interests of the people are about to be considered 
in the National Convention ; let us not lose a moment in pre- 
paring and making heard the national opinion, which alone 
ought to direct its actions. Especially let us prevent by jfirm 
measures the danger of seeing these new legislators oppose 
with impunity their personal interests or their opinions to the 
sovereign will of the nation. Let there be henceforth no in- 
violability except the law; let all the public functionaries al- 
ways see the penalty alongside of the offence; recollect how 
small is the number of legislators who have resisted corrujs 
tion : only a very few of them are counted in each legislature. 



128 TRANSITION TO REPUBLIC DOCUMENT.S 

Let us impress our minds then with the spirit of the orders 
of the electoral body of Paris ; they alone can save us from all 
sorts of despotism and the dangers of convulsions too long a 
time prolonged, etc. 

These orders are in substance : 

The purgatorial examination of the National Convention, 
in order to reject from its midst the suspected members who 
may have escaped the sagacity of the 'primary assemblies ; 

The revocability of the deputies to the National Convention 
who have attacked or who attack by any motions the rights 
of the sovereign ; 

The sanction, or the popular revision of all the constitu- 
tional decrees of the National Convention ; 

The entire abolition of royalty and the penalty of death 
against those who may propose to re-establish it; 

The form of a republican government. 

These, friends and brothers, are the important matters 
which the electors, the Commune, and the Primary Assemblies 
of Paris, invite us to discuss earnestly in order to fortify and 
encompass the National Convention with your opinion upon 
these matters. 



27. Documents upon the Transition to the Republia 

From these documents something can be learned of the manner 
in which the Republic came to be established. The lorecise effect 
of each measure should be noted. 

Reference. Aulard, Revoltition Francaise, 268-274. 

A. Declaration upon the Constitution. September 2T, 170^ 
Duvergier, Lois, V, i. 

The National Convention declares: ist, there cannot be 
any constitution except that which is accepted by the people; 
2d, that persons and property are under the safeguard of the 
nation. 

B. Decree for Abolishing Monarchy. September 21, 1792. 
Duvergier, Lois, V, i. 

The National Convention decrees unanimously, thit mon- 
archy is abolished in France. 



CONVENTION AND FOREIGN POLICY 129 

C. Decree for Provisional Enforcement of the Laws. 
September 21, 1792. Moniteur, September 22, 1792 (Reim- 
pression, XIV, 8) . 

The National Convention declares that all the laws not 
abrogated and all the powers not revoked or suspended are 
maintained. 

The National Convention declares that the taxes at present 
actually existing shall be collected as in the past. 

D. Decree upon the Dating of Public Documents. Sep- 
tember 22, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, V, 2. 

A member, demanded that henceforth documents be dated, 
the first year of the French Republic. 

Another member proposed to join to that the era in use^ 
the fourth year of liberty. 

This amendment is rejected, and it is decreed that all the 
public documents shall bear henceforth the date of the first 
year of the French Republic. 

E. Decree upon the Unity and Indivisibility of the Re- 
public, September 25, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, V, 4. 

The National Convention declares that the French Republic 
is one and indivisible. 



28. Documents upon the Convention and Foreign Policy. 

The adoption of the policj- set forth in the first two of these 
decrees marks a great turning point in the history of the Revolu- 
tion. Document A, passed hastily amid the enthusiasm following 
the French victory at Jemmapes, may be regarded as representing 
the Girondist theory of foreign policy. In contrast, document B 
may be called the Montagnard theory. Document C represents 
the more practical and moderate policy of Danton. Special, at- 
tention should be given to the effect of each of these decrees in 
foreign countries. 

Repbkences. Gardiner, French lievolution, 130-135 ; Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 204-206 ; Lecky, England in the Eighteenth 
Century, V, 58, 81-83 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, II, 235-237, 
257-259, III, 41-43 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, 
VlII, 242-245, 282-2S5. 

A. Declaration for Assistance and Fraternity to Foreign 
Peoples. November 19, 1792. 

5 



130 CONVENTION AND FOREIGN POLICY 

The National Convention declares, in the name of the 
French people, that it will accord fraternity and assistance to 
all peoples who shall wish to recover their liberty, and charges 
the executive power to give to the generals the necessary or- 
ders to furnish assistance to these peoples and to defend the 
citizens who may have been or who may be harassed for the 
cause of liberty. The present decree shall be translated and 
printed in all languages. 

B. Decree for Proclaiming the Liberty and Sovereignty 
of all Peoples. December 15, 1792. Duvergier, Lois, V, -82-84. 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its united committees of finances, war, and diplomacy, faith- 
ful to the principles of the sovereignty of the people, which 
do not permit it to recognize any of the institutions which 
bring an attack upon it, and wishing to settle the rules to be 
followed by the generals of the armies of the Republic in the 
countries where they shall carry its arms, decrees : 

1. In the countries which are or shall be occupied by the 
armies of the Republic, the generals shall proclaim immedi- 
ately, in the name of the French nation, the sovereignty of 
the people, the suppression of all the established authorities 
and of the existing imposts and taxes, the abolition of the 
tithe, of feudalism, of seignioral rights, both feudal and cen- 
suel, fixed or precarious, of banalities, of real and personal 
servitude, of the privileges of hunting and fishing, of corvees, 
of the nobility, and generally of all privileges. 

2. They shall announce to the people that they bring them 
peace, assistance, fraternity, liberty and equality, and that they 
will convoke them directly in primary or communal assemblies^ 
in order to create and organize an administration and a provis- 
ional judiciary; they shall look after the security of persons 
and property; they shall cause the present decree and the pro- 
clamation herev/ith annexed to be printed in the language or 
idiom of the country, and to be posted and executed without 
delay in each commune. 

3. All the agents and civil and military officers of the 
former government, as well as the persons formerly reputed 
noble, or the members of any formerly privileged corporation, 
shall be, for this time only, inadmissible to vote in the primary 



CONVENTION AND FOREIGN POLICY 



131 



or communal assemblies, and they shall not be elected to ad- 
ministrative or the provisional judicial power. 

4. The generals shall directly place under the safeguard 
and protection of the French Republic all the movable and 
immovable goods belonging to the public treasury, to the 
prince, to his abettors, adherents and voluntary satellites, to 
the public establishments, to the lay and ecclesiastical bodies 
and communities ; they shall cause to be prepared without 
delay a detailed list of them, which they shall dispatch to the 
executive council, and shall take all the measures which are in 
their power that these properties may be respected. 

5. The provisional administration selected by the people 
shall be charged with the surveillance and control of the goods 
placed under the safeguard and protection of the French Re- 
public ; it shall look after the security of persons and property ; 
it shall cause to be executed the laws in force relative to the 
trial of civil and criminal suits and to the police and the pub- 
lic security; it shall be charged to regulate and to cause the 
payment of the local expenses and those which shall be neces- 
sary for the common defence ; it may establish taxes, provid- 
ed, however, that they shall not be borne by the indigent and 
laboring portion of the people. 

6. When the provisional administration shall be organized 
the National Convention shall appoint commissioners from 
within its own body to go to fraternise with it. 

7. The executive council shall also appoint nationil com- 
missioners, who shall repair directly to the places in order to 
co-operate with the generals and the provisional administration 
selected by the people upon the measures to be taken for the 
common defence, and upon the means employed to procure 
the clothing and provisions necessary for the armies, and to 
meet the expenses which they have incurred and shall incur 
during their sojourn upon its territory. 

8. The national commissioners appointed by the executive 
council shall every fifteen days render an account to it of their 
operations. The executive council shall approve, modify or 
reject them and shall render an account thereof directly to the 
Convention. 

9. The provisional administration selected by the people 
and the functions of the national commissioners shall cease as 



132 



CONVENTION AND FOREIGN POLICY 



soon as the inhabitants, after having declared the sovereignty 
and independence of the people, liberty and equality, sh'ill have 
organized a free and popular form of government. 

10. There shall be made a list of the expenses which the 
French Republic shall have incurred for the common defence 
and of the sums which it may have received, and the French 
nation shall make arrangements with the government which 
shall have been established for that which may be due; and in 
case the common interest should require that the troops of the 
Republic remain beyond that time upon the foreign territory, 
it shall take suitable measures to provide for their subsist- 
ence. 

11. The French nation declares that it will treat as ene- 
mies the people who, refusing liberty and equality, or renounc- 
ing them, may wish to preserve, recall, or treat with the prince 
and the privileged castes ; it promises and engages not to sub- 
scribe to any treaty, and not to lay down its arms until after 
the establishment of the sovereignty and independence of the 
people whose territory the troops of the Republic have entered 
upon and who shall have adopted the principles of equality, 
and established a free and popular government. 

12. The executive council shall dispatch the present decree 
by extraordinary couriers to all the generals and shall take the 
necessary measures to assure the execution of it. 

The French People to the . . . People. 

Brothers and friends, we have conquered liberty and we 
shall maintain it. We offer to cause you to enjoy this inesti- 
mable blessing, which has always belonged to us and which 
our oppressors have not been able to take away from us with- 
out crime. 

We have driven out your tyrants : show yourselves free 
men and we will guarantee you from their vengeance, their 
projects, and their return. 

From this moment the French nation proclaims the sover- 
eignty of the people, the suppression of all the civil and mili- 
tary authorities which have governed you up to this day, and 
of all the imposts which you support, under whatever form 
they exist ; the abolition of the tithe, of feudalism, of seignioral 
rights. Both feudal and censuel, settled or precarious, of ban- 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION I33 

alities, of real and personal servitude, of the privileges of 
hunting and fishing, of the corvees, of the gahelle, of the tolls, 
of the octrois, aijd generally of every species of taxes with 
which you have been charged by your usurpers ; it also pro- 
claims the abolition among you of every noble corporation, 
sacerdotal and others, of all prerogatives and privileges con- 
trary to equality. You are from this moment, brothers and 
friends, all citizens, all equal in rights, and all equally called 
to govern, to serve, and to defend your fatherland. 

Form yourselves immediately into primary and communal 
assemblies, make haste to establish your provisional admin- 
istrations and judiciaries, in conformity with the provisions 
of article 3 of the above decree. The agents of the French 
Republic will co-operate with you in order to assure your wel- 
fare and the fraternity which ought to exist henceforth be- 
tween us. 

C. Decree upon Non-Intervention. April 13, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, 248. 

The National Convention declares, in the name of the 
French people, that it will not interfere in any manner in the 
government of the other powers ; but it declares at the same 
time, that it will sooner be buried under its own ruins than suf- 
fer that any power should interfere in the internal regime of 
the Republic, or should influence the creation of the constitu- 
tion which it intends to give itself. 

The National Convention decrees the penalty of death 
against anyone who may propose to negotiate or treat with the 
hostile powers which may not have previously recognized 
in a solemn manner the independence of the French Republic, 
its sovereignty, and the indivisibility and unity of the Republic, 
founded upon liberty and equality. 



29. Documents upon the Convention and Religion. 

Document A shows the original attitude of the Convention 
towards religion, which was substantially that of the Constituent 
Assemblj^ (See No. 6.) Under various influences that attitude 
was gradually changed. The royalist sympathies of the non-juring 
priests led to document B, the Girondist sympathies of the con- 
stitutional clergy to document C. At the end of the year 1793 the 



134 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



anti-Christianity movement was very strong outside of the Con- 
vention. Document D represents the attitude of the Convention 
towards that movement .and also marks the first step towards the 
establishment of a new system upon the relations between the 
state and religion. The remaining documents represent other 
steps in the proc'ess and its final position. The system outlined 
in document I continued as the legal basis until the Concordat. 

References. Sloane, French Revolution and Religious Reform, 
211-217 ; Aulard, Revolution Francaise, Part II, Chs. is and xii ; 
Lavisse and Rambaud, Ilistoire Generale, VIII, 514-525 ; Debidour, 
L'Eglise et VEtat, 112-152. 

A. Decree upon Religious Policy. January ii, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, iii. 

The National Convention, after having heard a deputation 
of the citizens of the departments of Eure, Orne and Eure et 
Loire, who ask in the name of more than a hundred thousand 
of their fellow citizens that they be not disturbed in the ex- 
ercise of their worship, and who protest that they wish to live 
and die good Catholics as well as good Republicans, and upon 
the proposal of one of its members, passes to the order of the 
day, giving as the motive the existence of its decree of the 
30th of November, in which it orders that a notification to the 
people shall be made in order to explain to them that the Na- 
tional Convention never had an intention of depriving them of 
the ministers of the Catholic sect whom the Civil Constitution 
of the Clergy has given them. 

It decrees, besides, that a copy of this decree and of that 
of the 30th of November shall be sent to the petitioners. 

B. Decree upon the Non-juring Priests. April 23, 1793. 
Duvergier, Lois, V, 256. 

1. The National Convention decrees that all the secular 
and regular ecclesiastics and convert and lay brothers, who 
have not taken the oath to maintain liberty and equality in 
conformity with the law of August 15, 1792, shall be embarked 
and transferred without delay to French Guiana. 

2. Those who shall be denounced because of incivism by 
six citizens in the canton shall be subject to the same penalty. 



5. Those deported in execution of articles i and -^ above 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 135 

who may return to the territory of the Repubhc shall be pun- 
ished by death within twenty-four hours. 

C. Decree upon Dangerous Priests. October 20-21, 1793 
(29 Vendemiaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VI, 241-242. 

1. Priests subject to deportation and taken with arms in 
their hands, either upon the frontiers or in the country of the 
enemy ; 

Those who shall have been or shall be discovered in pos- 
session of permits or passports delivered by French emigrant 
leaders, or by commanders of enemies' armies, or by leaders 
of the rebels ; 

And those who shall be furnished with any counter-revolu- 
tionary symbols, shall be delivered within twenty-four hours 
to the executioner of condemned criminals and put to death, 
after the facts shall have been declared proven by a military 
commission formed by the officers of the staff of the division 
within the area of which they shall have been arrested. 

2. Those who have been or who shall be arrested without 
arms in the countries occupied by the troops of the Republic 
shall be tried in the same form and punished by the same 
penalty, if they have been previously in the armies of the en- 
emy or in the musters of Emigres or insurgents, or if they 
were there at the moment of their arrest. 



5. Those of these ecclesiastics who shall return and those 
who have returned to the territory of the Republic shall be 
sent to the court house of the criminal tribunal of the depart- 
ment within the area of which they shall have been or shall be 
arrested ; and, after having undergone examination, of which 
record, shall be kept, they shall be delivered within twenty-. 
four hours to the executioner of condemned criminals and put 
to death, after the judges of the tribunal shall have declared 
that the prisoners are convicted of having been subjects of 
deportation. 



10. Those declared subjects for deportation, trial and pun 
ishment as such, are the bishops, former archbishops, cure 



136 CONVENTION AND RELIGION 

kiept in place, vicars of these bishops, superiors and di- 
rectors of seminaries, vicars of the cures, professors of semi- 
naries and colleges, public instructors, and those who shall 
have preached in any churches whatsoever since the decree of 
February 5, 1791, who shall not have taken the oath prescribed 

by article 39 of the decree of July 24, 1790, or who have 

retracted it, although they may "have taken it again since their 
retraction ; 

All secular or regular ecclesiastics and convert and lay 
brothers, who have not complied with the decrees of August 
14, 1792, and April 21, last, or who have retracted their oath ; 

And finally all those who have been denounced because of 
incivism, when the denunciation shall have been pronounced 
valid, in conformity with the decree of the said 21st day of 
April. 

12. The ecclesiastics who have taken the oath prescribed 
by the decrees of July 24 and November 27, 1790, as well as 
that of liberty and equahty, within the fixed time, and who 
shall be denounced because of incivism, shall be embarked 
without delay and transferred to the east coast of Africa from 
the twenty-third to the twenty-eighth degree south. 

17. Priests deported voluntarily and with passports . . 
arc reputed Emigres. 

18. Every citizen is required to denounce the ecclesiastic 
whom he shall know to be within the case of deportation, to 
arrest him or cause him to be arrested and conducted before 
the nearest police officer; he shall receive a hundred livres 
reward. 

19. Every citizen who shall conceal a priest subject to de- 
portation shall be condemned to the same penalty. 

D. Decree upon Religious Freedom. December 8, 1793 
(18 Frimaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VI, 2>ZZ- 

1. All violence and measures in constraint of the liberty 
of worship are forbidden. 

2. The surveillance of the constituted authorities and the 
action of the public force shall confine themselves in this 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



137 



matter, each for what concerns it, to measures of police and 
public security. 

3. The National Convention, by preceding provisions, 
does not mean tO' derogate in any manner from the laws or pre- 
cautions of public safety against the refractory or turbulent 
priests, or against all those who may attempt to take advantage 
of the pretext of religion to compromise the cause of liberty; 
no more does it intend to disapprove of what has been done 
up to this day in virtue of the orders of the representatives of 
the people, nor to furnish to anyone whomsoever pretext for 
disturbing patriotism or for diminishing the free scope of the 
public spirit. The Convention invites all 'good citizens, in the 
name of the fatherland, to abstain from all disputes that are 
tneological or foreign to the great interests of the French 
people, in order to co-operate by all methods in the triumph 
of the Republic and the ruin of all its enemies. 



E. Decree for Establishing the Worship of the Supreme 
Being. May 7, 1794 (18 Floreal, Year II). Aulard, Revolu- 
tion Francaise, 489-490. 

1. The French people recognize the existence of the Su- 
preme Being and the immortality of the soul. 

2. They recognize that the worship worthy of the Supreme 
Being is the practice of the duties of man. 

3. They place in the first rank of these duties, to detest 
bad faith and tyranny, to punish tyrants and traitors, to relieve 
the unfortunate, to respect the weak, to defend the oppressed, 
to do to others all the good that is possible and not to be un- 
just to anyone. 

4. Festivals shall be instituted to remind man of the 
thought of the Divinity and of the dignity of his being. 

5. They shall take their names from the glorious events of 
our Revolution, from the virtues most cherished and most use- 
ful to man, and from the great gifts of nature. 

6. The French Republic shall celebrate every year the fes- 
tival of July 14, 1789, August 10, 1792, January 21, 1793, and 
May 31, 1793. 

7. It shall celebrate on the days of decadi the list of festi- 
vals that follows: to the Supreme Being and to Nature; to the 



138 CONVENTION AND RELIGION 

Human Race; to the French People; to the Benefactors of 
Humanity ; to the Martyrs of Liberty ; to Liberty and Equahty ; 
to the Republic ; to the Liberty of the World ; to the Love of 
the Fatherland ; to the Hatred of Tyrants and of Traitors ; to 
Truth ; to Justice ; to Modesty ; to Glory and Immortality ; to 
Friendship ; to Frugality ; to Courage ; to Good Faith ; to He- 
roism ; to Disinterestedness ; to Stoicism ; to Love ; to Con- 
jugal Love; to Paternal Love; to Maternal Tenderness; to 
Filial Affection ; to Childhood ; to Youth ; to Manhood ; to Old 
Age ; to Misfortune ; to Agriculture ; to Industry ; to our !Fore- 
fathers; to Posterity; to Happiness. 

8. The committees of public safety and of public instruc 
tion are charged to present a plan of organization for these 
festivals. 

9. The National Convention summons all the talents wor- 
thy to serve the cause of humanity to the honor of contributing 
to their establishment by hymns and patriotic songs, and by 
all the means which can enhance their beauty and utility. 

10. The Committee of Public Safety shall confer distinction 
upon those works which seem the best adapted to carry out 
these purposes and shall reward their authors. 

11. Liberty of worship is maintained, in conformity with 
the decree of 18 Frimaire. 

12. Every gathering that is aristocratic and contrary to 
public order shall be suppressed. 

13. In case of disturbances of which any worship what- 
soever may be the occasion or motive, those who may excite 
them by fanatical preaching or by counter-revolutionary in- 
sinuations, those who may provoke them by unjust and gratu- 
itous violence, shall likewise be punished with all the severity 
of the law. 

14. A special report upon the provisions of detail relative 
to the present decree shall be made. 

15. A festival in honor of the Supreme Being shall be 
celebrated upon 20 Prairial next. 

David is charged to present the plan thereof to the National 
Convention. 

F. Decree upon Expenditures for Religion. September 
18, 1794 (2 Sans-Culottide, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VII, 
281. 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



139 



I. The French Republic no longer pays the expenses or 
salaries of any sect. 

G. Decree upon Religion. February 21, 1795 (3 Ventose, 
Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 25-26. 

1. In conformity with article 7 of the Declaration of the 
Rights of Man and with article 122 of the Constitution, the 
exercise of any worship cannot be disturbed. 

2. The Republic does not pay salaries for any of them. 

3. It does not furnish any edifice, either for the exercise 
of worship or the lodging of the ministers. 

4. The ceremonies of every sect are forbidden outside of 
the premises chosen for their exercise. 

5. The law does not recognize any minister of religion : 
nobody can appear in public with garments, ornaments or cos- 
tumes set apart for reHgious ceremonies. 

6. Every gathering of citizens for the exercise of any 
worship is subject to the surveillance of the constituted au- 
thorities. That surveillance confines itself to measures of 
police and public security. 

7. No symbol peculiar to a sect can be put in or upon the 
outside of a public place, in any manner whatsoever. No 
inscription can designate the place which is set aside for it. 
No proclamation or public summons can be made in order to 
call the citizens there. 

8. The communes and communal sections in collective 
name shall not acquire nor loan buildings for the exercises of 
sects. 

9. No perpetual or life time endowment can be formed 
or any tax established in order to provide for the expenses of 
them. 



H. Decree for Restoring Church Buildings. May 30, 
1795 (11 Prairial, Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 127. 

I. The citizens of the communes and communal sections 
of the Republic shall have the free use provisionally of the 
non-alienated edifices originally set apart for the exercises of 
one or more worships and of which they were in possession 



140 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



on the first day of the Year II of the Repiibhc. They can 
make use of them under the surveillance of the constituted 
authorities, both for the assemblies ordered by the law and for 
the exercise of their worship. 

5. Nobody shall perform the duties of the ministry of any 
sect in the said edifices, unless he has made acknowledgment, 
before the municipality of the place in which he shall wish to 
exercise it, of submission to the laws of the Republic. Min- 
isters of worship who shall have contravened the present 
article, and citizens who shall have summoned or admitted 
them, shall each be punished with a thousand livres fine by 
way of correctional police. 

I. Organic Act upon Religion. September 29, 1795 (7 
Vendemiaire, Year IV). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 293-297. 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its committee of legislation; 

Considering that by the terms of the Constitution, nobody 
can be prevented from exercising, in conformity with the laws, 
the worship which he has chosen; that nohody can be forced 
to contribute to the expenses of any sect, and that the Republic 
does not pay salaries for any of them ; 

Considering that, these fundamental bases of the free ex- 
ercise of worship being thus laid down, it is important, on 
the one hand, to reduce into laws the necessary consequences 
which are derived therefrom, and, for that purpose, to unite 
them into a single body and to modify or complete those 
which have been rendered ; and, on the other hand, to add to 
them the penal provisions which may assure the execution of 
them; 

Considering that the laws to which it is necessary to con- 
form in the exercise of worship do not legislate upon what 
belongs to the domain of thought only, or upon the relations 
of man with the objects of his worship, and that they have and 
can have for their purpose only a surveillance restricted to 
measures of police and public security ; 

That thus they ought to guarantee the free exercise of wor- 
ship by the punishment of those who disturb the ceremonies 
or outrage the ministers in their functions ; 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



141 



To demand of the ministers of every sect a purely civic 
guarantee against the abuse which they may make of their 
ministry in order to excite disobedience to the laws of the 
State ; 

To anticipate, prevent, or punish everything which may 
tend to render a sect exclusive or dominant and persecuting, 
such as acts of the communes in the collective name, endow- 
ments, forced contributions, acts of violence relative to the 
expenses of sects, the exposure of special symbols in certain 
places, the exercise of ceremonies and the use of costumes 
outside of the premises designated for the said exercises, and 
the undertakings of the ministers relative to the civil condi- 
tion of the citizens ; 

To repress offences which may be committed by occasion 
or abuse of the exercise of worship ; 

And, finally, to regulate the competency and procedure [of 
the courts] in these classes of cases; 

Decrees as follows : 

TITLE I. SURVEILLANCE OF THE EXERCISE OF WORSHIP. 

Preliminary and General Provision. 

1. Every gathering of citizens for the exercise of any wor- 
ship whatsoever is subject to the surveillance of the con- 
stituted authorities. 

This surveillance is confined to measures of police and pub- 
lic security. 

TITLE II. GUARANTEE OF THE FREE EXERCISE OF EVERY 
WORSHIP. 

2. Those who shall insult the objects of any worship what- 
soever in the places designated for its exercise, or its minis- 
ters on duty, or shall interrupt by a public disturbance the 
religious ceremonies of any other worship whatsoever, shall- 
be condemned to a fine, which shall not exceed five hundred 
livres, nor be less than fifty livres per person, and an impris- 
onment which shall not exceed two years nor be less than 
one month ; without prejudice to the penalties provided by the 
Penal Code, if the nature of the act can give occasion thereto. 



142 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



TITLE III. OF THE CIVIC GUARANTEE REQUIRED OF THE MIN- 
ISTERS OF EVERY SECT. 

5. Nobody can discharge the duties of the ministry of any 
sect, in any place whatever, unless he has previously made 
before the municipal administration or the municipal deputy 
of the place in which he shall wish to exercise it, a declaration, 
the model of which is in the following article. The declarn- 
tions already made shall not dispense with that ordered by the 
present article. ... 

6. The formula of the declaration required above is this : 
"The . . . before us . . . has appeared N. (the 

name and prenoniens only), resident of . . . who has 
made the declaration whose tenor is as follows : 

" */ recognise that the totality of the French citizens is the 
sovereign J and I promise submission and obedience to the laws 
of- the Republic/ 

"We have given to him an acknowledgment of this declar- 
ation and he 'has signed with us." 

The declaration which shall contain anything more or less 
shall be null and void : . . . 



TITLE IV. OF THE GUARANTEE AGAINST ANY SECT WHICH MAY 
ATTEMPT TO BECOME EXCLUSIVE OR DOMINANT. 

Section I. Concerning the expenses of the sects. 

9. Communes or comrnunal sections shall neither acquire 
nor loan in the collective name premises for the exercise of 
worship. 

10. No perpetual nor life-time endowment can be formed 
nor any tax established in order to provide for the expenses 
of any sect or the lodgment of its ministers. 

Section II. Of the places in which it is forbidden to place 
the special symbols of a sect. 

13. No special symbol of a sect can be raised, affixed or 
attached in any place whatsoever in such a manner as to be 
exposed to the eyes of the citizens, except within the premises 
designated for the exercises of that same sect, or within the 
interior of private houses, within the studios or magazines 



CONVENTION AND RELIGION 



143 



of artists and merchants, or the pubHc edifices set apart to re- 
ceive works of art. 

Section III. Of the places in which the ceremonies of the 
sects are forbidden. 

16. The ceremonies of all sects are forbidden outside of 
the precincts of the edifice chosen for their exercise. 

This prohibition does not apply to the ceremonies which 
take place within the precincts of private houses, provided, 
that, besides the persons who have that domicile, there shall 
not be on the occasion of the said ceremonies a gathering in 
excess of ten persons. 

17. The premises chosen for the exercise of a worship 
shall be indicated and- declared to the municipal deputy, in the 
communes above five thousand souls, and in others to the 
municipal administrations of the canton or district. 

19. Nobody . . . can appear in public with the gar- 
ments, ornaments or costumes set apart for religious ceremo- 
nies or for a minister of a sect. 



TITLE V. OF CERTAIN OFFENCES WHICH CAN BE COMMITTED ON 

THE OCCASION OR BY THE ABUSE OF THE EXERCISE 

OF WORSHIP. 

22. Every minister of a sect who, outside of the premises 
of the edifice set apart for the ceremonies or exercises of a 
worship, shall read or cause to be read in an assembly of per- 
sons, or who ishall post or cause to be posted, shall distribute 
or cause to be distributed, a writing emanating from or an- 
nounced as emanating from a minister of worship who 
shall not be resident within the French Republic, or even 
from a minister of worship residing in France who declares 
hims'elf the delegate of another who does not reside here, 
shall be condemned to six months in prison, independently of 
the tenor of the said writing, and in case of repetition, to two 
years. 

23. Any minister of worship who shall commit any one 
of the following offences shall be condemned to prison forever, 
whether it be by his discourses, exhortations, sermons, invo- 



r44 



DOCL*ME^TS UPON THE EMIGRES 



cations or prayers, in any language whatsoever, either by read- 
ing, puhhshing, pO'Sting, distributing, or causing to be read, 
pubHshed, posted and distributed, within the premises of the 
edifice set part for the ceremonies, or outside, a writing of 
which he shall be or any other shall be the author ; 

To wit : if, by the said writing or discourse, he has urged 
the re-establishment of monarchy in France, or the overthrow 
of the Republic, or the dissolution of the national representa- 
tion ; 

Or if he has incited murder, or excited the defenders of 
the fatherland to desert their flags, or their fathers and moth- 
ers to recall them ; 

Or if he has reproached those who may wish to take arms 
for the maintenance of the Republican Constitution and the de- 
fence of liberty; 

Or if he 'has summoned persons to cut down the trees con- 
secrated to liberty, or has torn down or treated disrespectfully 
its symbols and colors ; 

Or, finally, if he has exhorted or encouraged any persons to 
treason or rebellion against the Government. 

24. If, by writings, placards or discourses, a minister of 
worship seeks to mislead the citizens, in presenting to them 
as unjust or criminal the sales or acquisitions of national lands 
possessed formerly by the clergy or the Emigres, he shall be 
condemned to a thousand livres fine and two years in prison; 

In addition, he shall be forbidden to continue his functions 
as a minister of wors'hip. 

If he infringes this prohibition, he shall be punished by ten 
years of imprisonmnent. 



30. Documents upon the Emigres. 

The Emigres were an important factor in the Revolution. 
Their absence from France deprived Louis XVI of support which 
he needed ; their intrigues abroad and their threats of vengeance 
did much to arouse the fears of all Frenchmen who sympathized 
with the Revolution. Document A, although much less virulent 
in tone than others, is a typical Emigre manifesto. Document B 
may be called an organic act^ codifying earlier legislation against 
the Emigres. 

References. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 496-513 ; Au- 
lard, Revolution Francaise, 361-362. 



DOCUMENTS UPON THE EMIC4RES 145 

A. Declaration of the Regent of France. January 28, 1793. 
Moniteur, February 26, 1793 (Reimpression, XV, 545). 

Louis-Stanislas-Xavier of France, son of France, uncle of 
the King, Regent of the kingdom, to all those tOi whom these 
presents shall come, greeting. 

Filled with horror upon learning that the most criminal 
of men have just reached the climax ©f their numerous out- 
rages by the greatest of crimes, we have first implored Heaven 
to obtain its assistance in surmounting the feelings of a pro- 
found grief and the impulses of our indignation, to the end 
that we may give ourselves up to the fulfilling of the duties 
which, under such grave circumstances, are the first in order 
of those which the immutable laws of the French Monarchy 
impose upon us. 

Our very dear and honored brother and sovereign lord. 
King Louis, the sixteenth of that name, having died on the 
21 St of the present month of January, beneath the parricidal 
sword which the ferocious u)8urpers of the sovereign author- 
ity in France have raised against his august person, 

We declare that the Dauphin Louis-Charles, born on the 
27th day of March, 1785, is King of France and Navarre, un- 
der the name of Louis XVII, and that by right of birth, as 
well as by the provisions of the fundamental laws of the kingr 
dom, we are and shall be Regent of France during the minor- 
ity of the King, our nephew and lord. 

Invested, in that capacity, with the exercise of the rights 
and powers of the sovereignty and of the higher ministry of 
royal justice, we undertake them, as we are required to do 
in the discharge of our obligations and duties, for the pur- 
pose of employing ourselves, with the aid of God and the 
assistance of good and loyal Frenchmen of all the orders of 
the kingdom and of the powers recognized as sovereign allies 
of the crown of France, 

1st. For the liberation of King Louis XVII, our nephew; 
2d, of the Queen, his august mother and guardian ; of the 
Princess Elizabeth, his aunt, our very dear sister, all kept in 
the most distressing captivity by the leaders of the factious ; 
and at the same time for the re-establishment of the monarchy 
upon the unalterable bases of its constitution, the reformation 
of the abuses introduced in the system of public administra- 



146 



DOCUMENTS UPON THE EMIGRES 



tion, the re,-establishment of the religion of our fathers in the 
purity of its worship and of the canonical discipline, the re- 
storation of the magistracy for the maintenance of public 
order and the dispensing of justice, the restoration of French- 
men of all orders in the exercise of legitimate rights and in the 
enjoyment of their invaded and usurped properties, the severe 
and exemplary punishment of crimes, the re-establishment of 
the authority of the laws, and of peace, and, finally, the ful- 
filling of the solemn engagements which we were pleased to 
take in conjunction with our very dear brother, Charles- Phil- 
ippe of France, Count of Artois, with whom are united our 
very dear nephews, grandsons of France, Louis- Antoine, Duke 
of Angouleme, and Charles-Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, .and 
our cousins of the royal blood, Louis-Joseph of Bourbon, 
Prince of Conde, Louis-Henry- Joseph of Bourbon, Duke of 
Bourbon, and Louis-Antoine-Henri of Bourbon, Duke of 
Enghein, by our resolutions addressed to the late king, our 
brother, September 11, 1791, and other acts emanating from 
us, declarations of our principles, feelings and wishes, in 
which acts we persist and shall constantly persist. 

For these purposes, we command and order all Frenchmen 
and subjects of the King to obey the commands which they 
shall receive from us in the name of the King and the com- 
mands of our very dear brother Charles-Philippe of France, 
Count of Artois, w'hom we have appointed and designated 
Lieutenant General of the kingdom, when our said brother and 
Lieutenant General shall give orders in the name of the King 
and the Regent of France. Our present declaration shall be 
notified to whomsoever it shall concern and shall be published 
by all the officers of the King, military or magisterial, to whom 
we shall give commission and charge thereto, in order that the 
said declaration may have all the publicity which it shall be 
possible to give it in France at present, and until it may be 
addressed in the usual form to the courts of the kingdom, 
as soon as they shall have resumed the exercise of their juris- 
dictions in order to be there notified, published, registered and 
executed. 

Given at Hamm, in Westphalia, under our signature and 
ordinary seal, of which we are making use for transactions of 
sovereignty until the seals of the kingdom, destroyed by the 



DOCUMENTS UPON THE EMIGRES 147 

factious, may have been re-established, and under the counter 
signature of the ministers of State, the marshals Brogiie and 
Castries, This 28th of January, 1793, and of the reign of the 
King, the first. 

B. Decree against the Emigres. Ma,rch 28, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, 218-228. 



1. The Emigres are forever banished from French ter- 
ritory; they are civilly dead; their estates are acquired by the 
Republic. 

2. Infraction of the banishment pronounced by article 1 
shall be punished by death. 

6. Emigres are : 

I St. Every Frenchman of either sex who, after having 
left the territory of the Republic since July i, 1789, has not 
made proof of his return to France within the periods fixed by 
the decree of March 30 — ^April 8, 1792. The said decree shall 
continue to be executed in that which has to do with the pecun- 
iary penalties pronounced against those who shall have re- 
turned within the period which it has prescribed ; 

2d. Every Frenchman of either sex, absent from the place 
of his domicile, who shall not prove, in the form which is 
about to be prescribed, an uninterrupted residence in France 
since May 9, 1792; 

3d. Every Frenchman of either sex who, although actually 
present, has been absent from the place of his domicile and 
shall not make proof of an uninterrupted residence in France 
since May 9, 1792; 

4th. Those who shall leave the territory of the Republic 
without fulfilling the formalities prescribed by the decree; 

5th. Every agent 'of the Government who, having been 
charged with a mission to foreign powers, may not return to 
France within three months from the day of notification of his 
recall ; 

6th. Every Frenchman of either sex who, during invasion 
made by foreign armies, has left non,-invaded French territory 
in order to reside upon territory occupied by the enemy ; 

7th. Those who, although born in foreign countries, have 



148 DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST ENGLAND 

exercised the rights of citizens in France, or who, having a 
double domicile, to wit, one in France and the other in for- 
eign countries, shall not make proof of an uninterrupted resi- 
dence in France since May 9, 1792. 



31. Declaration of War against Great Britain. 

February 1, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 134-135. 

The g-reat war beAim by this declaration lasted until 1814, 
save for one interval of about fifteen months in 1802-3, being pro- 
tracted for reasons very different from tliose which had originally 
caused it. From the document a tolerably complete list of the 
circumstances which the Convention regarded as justifying the 
v'ar can be made out. 

Eefei{excp:s, Lecky, England in the Fighteenth Century, V, 
45-] 35; Browning, Flight to Varennes and Other Essays, 170-201; 
Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 248-249 ; Sorel, 
L'Eitrope ct la Revolution Francaise, III, 212-230, 240-245, 270- 

280. 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its committee of general defence upon the conduct of the Eng- 
lish government towards France ; 

Considering that the King of England has not ceased, es- 
pecially since the revolution of August 10, 1792, to give to 
the French nation proofs of his malevolence and of his at- 
tachment to the coalition of the crowned heads ; 

That at that time he ordered his ambassador to withdraw 
from Paris, because he did not wish to recognize the pro- 
visional executive council created by the Legislative Assembly; 

That the cabinet of Saint James discontinued at the same 
time its correspondence with the ambassador of France at Lon- 
don, under pretext of the suspension of the former king of the 
French ; 

That, since the opening of the National Convention, it has 
not been willing to resume its accustomed correspondence nor 
to recognize the powers of this Convention ; 

That it has refused to recognize the ambassador of the 
French Republic, although furnished with letters of credence 
in its name : 



DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST ENGLAND 14; 

That it has sought to thwart the various purchases of 
grain, arms, and other merchandise ordered in England, wheth- 
er by French citizens or by the agents of the French RepubHc ; 

That it has caused the arrest of several barges and vessels 
loaded with grain for France, while, contrary to the tenor of 
the treaty of 1786, the exportation of it to other foreign coun- 
tries has continued ; 

That, in order to hamper still more effectively the com- 
mercial operations of the Republic in England, it has caused 
the circulation of the assignats to be prohibited by an act of 
parliament ; 

That, in violation of article 4 of the treaty of 1786, it has 
caused to be enacted by the same parliament, in the course of 
the month of January last, an act which subjects all French 
citizens going to or residing in England to forms that are most 
inquisitorial, most vexatious, and most dangerous to their se- 
curity ; 

That, within the same time and against the tenor of article 
I of the treaty of peace of 1783^ it has granted open protection 
and financial relief to the Emigres and even to the rebel lead- 
ers who have already fought against France ; that it maintains 
with them a daily correspondence evidently directed against the 
French Revolution ; 

That it likewise welcomes the leaders of the rebels of the 
French western colonies ; 

That, in the same spirit, without any provocation being 
given it, and when all the maritime powers are at peace with 
England, the cabinet of Saint James has ordered a considerable 
armament by sea and an augmentation of its land forces ; 

That this augmentation was ordered at the moment when 
the English ministry was persecuting with blind fury those 
who were supporting in England the principles of the French 
Revolution, and was employing all possible means, whether in 
parliament or outside, to cover the French Republic v\ith ig- 
nominy and to draw upon it the execration of the English na- 
tion and of all Europe; 

That the purpose of this armament, intended against France, 
has not even been disguised in the parliament of England ; 

That, although the provisional executive council has em- 
ployed all means to preserve peace and fraternity with the 



150 



DECLARATIOiN OP WAR AGAINST ENGLAND 



English nation and has not responded to the calumnies and 
the violations of the treaties, except by complaints founded 
upon the principles of justice and expressed with the dignity 
of free men, the English ministry has persevered in its sys- 
tem of malevolence and hostility, continued the armaments, 
and sent a fleet towards the Scheldt to interfere with the oper- 
ations of France in Belgium; 

That at the news of the execution of Louis it carried out- 
rage against the French Republic to the point of giving an or- 
der to the ambassador of France to leave the soil of Great 
Britain within eight days ; 

That the king of England has manifested his attachment 
to the cause of that traitor and his intention to susta'n it by 
various resolutions taken at the moment of his death, as well 
in appointing generals for his army, as in asking the parliament 
of England for a considerable addition of land and naval forcr 
es and in ordering the equipment of gunboats ; 

That his secret coalition with the enemies of France, and 
especially with the Emperor and with Prussia, has just been 
confirmed by a treaty effected with the first in the month of 
January last; 

That he has drawn into the same coalition the Stadtholder 
of the United Provinces ; that this prince, whose servile devo- 
tion to the orders of the cabinet of Saint James and of Berlin 
is only too notorious, has in the course of the French Revolu- 
tion and despite the neutrality which he was protesting, treat- 
ed with contempt the agents of France, welcomed the Emi- 
gres, harassed the French patriots, interfered with their op- 
erations, released, despite the accepted usage and despite the 
request of the French minister, the counterfeiters of false as- 
si gnats; 

That, most recently, in order to co-operate with the hostile 
designs of the Court of London, he has ordered a naval arma- 
ment, appointed an admiral, ordered the Dutch vessels to join 
the English fleet, opened a loan to supply the expenses of war, 
prevented exportations to France while he was favoring the 
supplying of the Prussian and Austrian magazines with pro- 
visions ; 

Considering, finally, that all these circumstances no longer 
allow the French Republic to hope to obtain, by means of 
amicable negotiations, the redress of its grievances, and that 



THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL 151 

all the acts of the British court and of the Stadtholder are 
acts of hostility and equivalent to a declaration of war ; 
The National Convention decrees as follows : 

1. The National Convention declares, in the name of the- 
French nation, that in view of all these acts of hostility and 
aggression, the French Republic is at war with the King of 
England and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces. 

2. The National Convention charges the provisional execu- 
tive council to deploy the forces which shall appear to it nec- 
essary tO' repulse their aggression and to support the indepen- 
dence, the dignity and the interests of the Republic. 

3. The National Convention authorises the provisional 
executive council to dispose of the naval forces of the Repub- 
lic, as the safety of the State shall appear to it to require; it 
revokes all the particular provisions ordered in this matter by 
preceding decrees. 



32. Documents upon the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris. 

These documents are intended to show the evolution and gen- 
eral character of the Revolutionary Tribunal, one of the chief in- 
stitutions of the Terror. Between the dates of the two documents 
the tribunal was divided into four sections, in order that its busi- 
ness might be dispatched more rapidly, and its name was changed 
to Revolutionary Tribunal. Something of the methods by which 
it was supplied with cases can be ascertained from No. 41. 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 231-232, 262 ; 
Stephens, French Revolution, II, 330-343, 544-548; Aulard, Revo- 
lution Francaise, 362-366. 

A. Decree for Creating an Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal. 
March 10, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 190-191. 

TITLE I. OF THE COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION OF AN EX- 
TRAORDINARY CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL. 

I. There shall be established at Paris an extraordinary 
criminal tribunal, which shall have jurisdiction over every 
counter-revolutionary enterprise, over all attacks against lib- 
erty, equality, unity, and the indivisibility of the Republic, the 
internal and external security of the State, and over all con- 
spiracies tending to re-establish monarchy or to establish any 
other authority which makes nn attack upon the liberty, equal- 



152 THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL 

ity, and sovereignty of the people, whether the accused be 
civil or military functionaries or simply citizens. 

2. The tribunal shall be composed of a jury, and of five 
judges, who shall direct the examination and shall apply the 
law after the declaration of the jurors upon the facts. 

3. The judges shall not render any decision unless they 
are at least three in number. 



5. The judges shall be appointed by the National Conven- 
tion by plurality of the votes, which, nevertheless, shall not 
be less than a fourth of the votes. 

6. There shall be before the tribunal a public accuser and 
two assistants or alternates, who shall be appointed by the 
National Convention, as are the judges and according to the 
same method. 

7. There shall be appointed by the National Convention 
in the sitting of tomorrow twelve citizens, of the deprirtment 
of Paris and of the four departments which environ it, who 
shall discharge the duties of jurors, and four alternates of 
the same department, who shall replace the jurors in case of 
absence, challenge or illness. The jurors shall discharge their 
duties until May ist next; and there shall be provision made 
by the National Convention for their replacement and for the 
formation of a jury taken from among the citizens of all the 
departments. 

8. The functions of the police of the general security, as- 
signed to the municipalities and the administrative bodies by 
the decree of August nth last, shall be extended to all the 
crimes and offences mentioned in article i of the present 
decree. 

9. All the records of denunciations, informations, and ar- 
rests shall be addressed, in copy, by the administrative bodies, 
to the National Convention, which shall send them to a com- 
mission of its members charged to make examination of them 
and to make a report thereof. 

10. There shall be formed a commission of six members of 
the National Convention, who shall be charged with the exam- 
ination of all the papers, to make a report thereof, and to draw 
up and present the documents of accusation, to look after the 
examination which shall be made in the extraordinary tribu- 



THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL 1^3 

nal, to maintain a constant correspondence with the public 
accuser and the judges upon all the public matters which 
shall be sent to the tribunal, and to render an account there- 
of to the National Convention. 

11. The accused who shall wish to challenge one or more 
jurors shall be required to state the causes of challenge by one 
and the same document, and the tribunal shall pronounce upon 
the validity thereof within twenty-four hours. 

12. The jurors shall vote and frame their declaration pub- 
licly, with loud voice and by majority of the votes, 

13. The judgments shall be carried out without recourse 
tO' the tribunal of cassation. 

14. The accused fugitives who shall not present themselves 
within three months from the trial shall be treated as Em- 
igres, and shall be subject to the same penalties, whether in 
relation to their persons or to their estates. 



TITLE II. OF THE PENALTIES- 

1. The judges of the extraordinary tribunal shall pro- 
nounce the penalties provided by the Penal Code and the sub- 
sequent laws against the accused who are convicted ; and when 
the offences which shall continue without interruption shall be 
in the class of those which ought to be punished by penalties 
of the correctional police, the tribunal shall pronounce these 
penalties, without sending the accused to the police tribunals. 

2. The estates of those who shall be condemned to the 
penalty of death shall be acquired by the Republic and there 
shall be provision made for the support of the widows and chil- 
dren, if they have no estates besides. 

3. Those who may be convicted of crimes or offences 
which have not been provided for by the Penal Code and the 
subsequent laws, or whose punishment has not been deter- 
mined by the laws, and wJiose incivism and residence upon the 
territory of the Republic have been a matter of public trouble 
and disturbance, >shall be condemned to the penalty of depor- 
tation. 



154 ^^^ REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL 

B. Law of 22 Prairial. June lo, 1794 (22 Prairial, 
Year II). Diivergier, Lois, VII, 190-192. 

1. The revolutionary tribunal shall have a president and 
four vice-presidents, one public accuser, four substitutes for 
the public accuser and twelve judges. 

2. The jurors shall be fifty in number. 

3. The different functions shall be discharged by the cit- 
izens whose names follow : . . . [The omission relates 
exclusively to the personnel of the court] 

The revolutionary tribunal shall divide itself into sections 
composed of twelve members, to wit: three judges and nine 
jurors, which jurors cannot give judgment at a number less 
than that of seven. 

^ 4. The revolutionary tribunal is instituted in order' to pun- 
ish the enemies of the people. 

' 5. The enemies of the people are those who seek to de- 
stroy the public liberty, either by force or by artifice. 

6, Those are reputed enemies of the people who shall have 
promoted the re-establishment of royalty or sought to depre- 
ciate or dissolve the National Convention and the revolution- 
ary and republican government of which it is the centre ; 

Those who shall have betrayed the Republic in the com- 
mand of places and armies, or in any other military function ; 
carried on correspondence with the enemies of the Republic ; 
labored to make the supplies rr the service of the armies fail; 

Those who shall have sought to impede the supplies for 
Paris or to cause scarcity within the Republic ; 

Those who shall have seconded the projects of the ene- 
mies of France, either in aiding the withdrawal and the im- 
punity of conspirators and the aristocracy, or in persecuting 
and calumniating patriotism, or in corrupting the servants of 
the people, or in abusing the principles of the revolution, the 
laws or the measures of the Government, by false and per- 
fidious applications ; 

Those who shall have deceived the people or the represen- 
tatives of the people, in order to lead them into operations 
contrary to the interests of liberty; 

Those who shall have sought to promote discouragement, 



THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL 155 

in order to favor the enterprises of the tyrants leagued against 
the Republic; 

Those who shall have spread false news in order to divide 
or disturb the people ; 

Those who shall have sought to mislead opinion and to 
prevent the instruction of the people, to deprave morals and to 
corrupt the public conscience, to impair the energy and the 
purity of the revolutionary and republican principles, either by 
stopping the progress of them, or by counter-revolutionary or 
insidious writings, or by any other machination ; 

The contractors whose bad faith compromises the safety of 
the Republic, and the wasters of the public fortune, other than 
those included in the provisions of the law of 7 Frimaire; 

Those who, being charged with public functions, abuse 
them in order to serve the enemies of the revolution, to dis- 
tress the patriots or to oppress the people ; 

Finally, all those who are designated in the preceding laws 
relative to the punishment of the conspirators and counter- 
revolutionaries, and who, whatever the means or the appear- 
ances with which they cover themselves, shall have made an at- 
tack upon the liberty, unity, and security of the Republic, or 
labored to prevent the strengthening of them. 

7. The penalty provided for all offences, the jurisdiction 
of which belongs to the revolutionary tribunal, is death. 

8. The proof necessary to convict the enemies of the peo- 
ple is every kind of evidence, either material or moral or 
verbal or written, which can naturally secure the approval of 
every just and reasonable spirit; the rule of judgment is the 
conscience of the jurors enlightened by love of the fatherland; 
their aim, the triumph of the Republic and the ruin of its ene- 
mies ; the procedure, the simple means which good sense dic- 
tates in order to come to the knowledge of the truth, in the 
forms which the law determines. 

It is confined to the following points : 

9. Every citizen has the right to seize and to arr-tign be- 
fore the magistrates conspirators and counter-revolutionaries. 
He is required to denounce them when he knows of them. 

10. Nobody can arraign a person before the revolutionary 
tribunal, except the National Convention, the committee of 
public safety, the committee of general security, the represen- 



156 THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL 

tatives of the people who are commissioners of the Convention, 
and the pubhc accuser of the revolutionary tribunal. 

11. The constituted authorities in general cannot exercise 
this right without having notified the committee of public 
safety and the committee of general security and obtained their 
authorisation. 

12. The accused shall be examined in public session : the 
formality of the secret examination which precedes is sup- 
pressed as superfluous ; it shall occur only under special -cir- 
cumstances in which it shall be judged useful for a knowledge 
of the truth. 

13. If proofs exist, either material or moral, indepen- 
dently of the testified proof, there shall be no further hearing 
of testimony, unless that formality appears necessary, either 
to discover the accomplices or for other important considera- 
tions of public interest. 

14. In a case in which there shall be occasion for this 
proof, the public accuser shall cause to be summoned the wit- 
nesses who can show the way to justice, without distinction of 
witnesses for or against. 

15. All the proceedings shall be conducted in public and no 
written deposition shall be received, unless the witnesses are so 
situated that they cannot be brought before the tribunal, 
and in that case an express authorisation of the committees of 
pubHc safety and general security shall be necessary. 

16. The law gives sworn patriots to calumniated patriots 
for counsel ; it does not grant them to conspirators. 

17. The pleadings finished, the jurors shall formulate their 
verdicts and the judges shall pronounce the penalty in the 
manner determined by the laws. 

The president shall propound the question with lucidity, 
irecision, and simplicity. If it was presented in an equivocal 
or inexact manner, the jury may ask that it be propounded in 
another manner. 

18. The public accuser may not on his own authority dis- 
charge a prisoner bound over to the tribunal or one whom he 
shall have caused to be arraigned there; in a case in which 
there is no matter for an accusation before the tribunal, he 
shall make a written report of it, with a statement of the rea- 
sons, to the chamber of the council, which shall pronounce. 



LAW FOR REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES 



157 



But no prisoner may be discharged from trial before the de- 
cision of the chamber has been communicated to the committees 
of public safety and general security, who shall examine it. 

19. A double register shall be kept of the persons ar- 
raigned before the revolutionary tribunal, one for the public 
accuser and the other for the tribunal, upon which shall be 
enrolled all the prisoners, according as they shall be arraigned. 

20. The Convention modifies all those provisions of the 
preceding laws which may not be in agreement with the pres- 
ent law and does not intend that the laws concerning the or- 
ganization of the ordinary tribunals should apply to the crimes 
of counter-revolution and to the action of the revolutionary 
tribunal. 

21. The report of the committee shall be joined to the 
present decree as instruction. 



33. Decree for Establishing the Revolutionary Committees. 

March 21, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 206-207. 

The revolutionary committees created by this decree were 
among the most characteristic and potent agencies in the service 
of the revolutionary government. The powers granted in this de- 
ci-ee were subsequently much increased in various ways, chiefly 
by ladditional decrees and by authorisation of the committee of 
public safety. For these powers at their greatest extent see No. 
45. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 350-355. 

1. There shall be formed in each commune of the R.epublic 
and in each section of the communes divided into sections, at 
the hour which shall be indicated in advance by the general 
council, a committee composed of twelve citizens. 

2. The members of this committee, who cannot be chosen 
from the ecclesiastics, former nobles, former seigneurs of the 
locality, and agents of the former seigneurs, shall be chosen by 
ballot and by plurality of the votes. 



4. The committee of the commune, or each of the commit- 
tees of the sections of the commune, shall be charged to re- 



158 DECREE UPON THE PRESS 

ceive for its district the declarations of all the strangers ac- 
tually residing within the commune or who may arrive there. 

5. These declarations shall contain the names, age, profes- 
sion, place of birth and means of existence of the declarer. 

6. They shall be made within eight days after the publi- 
cation of the present decree; the Hst thereof shall be printed 
and posted. 

7. Every foreigner who shall have refused or neglected to 
make his declaration before the committee of the commune or 
of the section in which he shall reside, within the period above 
prescribed, shall be required to leave the commune within 
twenty-four hours and the territory of the Republic within 
eight days. 



34. Decree upon the Press. 

March 29, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 230. 

During the earlier stages of the Revolution the freedom of the 
press was accepted both in principle and in practice. Without 
formally abandoning the principle, the royalist newspapers were 
suppressed after the establishment of the Republic, and Girondist 
newspapers after the prosecution of the Girondist deputies. This 
decree illustrates the method employed against the royalist news- 
papers and is typical of all decrees affecting the press. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 359-361. 

The National Convention decrees : 

1. Whoever shall be convicted of having composed or 
printed works or writingis which incite to the dissolution of the 
national representation, the re-establishment of monarchy or 
of any other power which constitutes an attack upon the sov- 
ereignty of the people, shall be arraigned before the extraor- 
dinary tribunal and punished with death. 

2. The vendors, distributers and hawkers of these works 
or writings shall be condemned to an imprisonment which 
shall not exceed three months, if they declare the authors, 
printers or other persons from whom they have obtained 
them ; if they refuse this declaration, they shall be punished 
by two years in prison. 



COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY DECREE i^p 

35. Decree for Establishing the Committee of 
Pubiic Safety. 

April 6, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, Y, 240. 

This document shows the Committee of Public Safety in its 
original character, that of a ministry responsible to the Conven- 
tion. (See Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 334-335.) Through 
changes in its membership and the multiplication of its powers 
and duties, in part by decrees of the Convention, in part by mere 
custom, it gradually became a very different institution. For its 
later character see Nos. 43 and 45. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 145-146 ; Mathews, 
French Re-volution, 229-231 ; Stephens, French Revolution, II, Ch. 
IX ; Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 329-342. 



The National Convention decrees : 

1. There shall be formed, by the call of names, a commit- 
tee of public safety, composed of nine members of the National 
Convention. 

2. The committee shall deliberate in secret ; it shall be 
charged to stipervise and accelerate the action of the adminis- 
tration entrusted to the provisional executive council, of which 
it may even suspend the orders, when it shall believe them 
contrary to the national interest, subject to giving inform- 
ation thereof to the Convention without delay. 

3- It is authorised to take, under urgent circumstances, 
measures of external and internal defence ; and the orders 
signed by the majority of its deliberating members, which can- 
not be less than two-thirds, shall be executed without delay 
by the provisional executive council. It shall not in any case 
issue warrants of capture or arrest, except against the exec- 
utive agents, and subject to rendering an account thereof with- 
out delay to the Convention. 

4. The National Treasury shall hold at the disposal of the 
committee of public safety [a sum of money] to the amount of 
a hundred thousand livres for secret expenses, which shall 
be disbursed by the committee and paid upon its commands, 
which shall be signed as are the orders. 

5. It shall make each week in writing a general report of 
its operations and of the situation of the Republic. 

6. A register of all its deliberations shall be kept. 

7. This committee is established only for one month. 



l6o ROBESPIERRE'S DECLARATION OF RIGHTS 

8. The National Treasury shall remain independent of the 
committee of execution and subject to the immediate sur- 
veillance of the Convention, according to the method deter- 
mined by the decrees. 



36. Robespierre's Proposed Declaration of Rights. 

April 24, 1793. Moniteur, ]M<ay 5, 1793. {Reimpression, XVT, 
294-296). 

This document was brougtit forward in ttie Convention by 
Robespierre during the debates over the Constitution of the Year 
I. Although not actually adopted it possesses great interest as 
a profession of faith of its author. The economic tendency 
of the document and its implications in regard to foreign policy 
should be particularly noticed. 

Refeeences. Von Sybel, French Revolution, III, 64 ; Aulard, 
Revolution Francaise^ 290-292. 

The representatives of the French people, met in National 
Convention, recognizing that human laws which do not flow 
from the^eternal laws of justice and reason are only the out- 
rages of ignorance and despotism upon humanity; convinced 
that neglect and contempt of the natural rights of man are the 
sole causes of the crimes and misfortunes of the world; have 
resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration these sacred and 
inalienable rights, in order that all citizens, being enabled to 
compare constantly the acts of the government with the purpose 
of every social institution, may never permit themselves to be 
oppressed and disgraced by tyranny ; and in order that the peo- 
ple may always have before their eyes the foundations of their 
liberty and their welfare; the magistrate, the rule of his duties; 
the legislator, the purpose of his mission. 

In consequence, the National Convention proclaims in the 
face of the world and under the eyes of the Immortal Legis- 
lator the following declaration of the rights of man and citizen. 

1. The purpose of every political association is the main- 
tenance of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man and 
the development of all his faculties. 

2. The principal rights of man are those of providing for 
the preservation of his existence and his liberty. 



ROBESPIERRE'S DECLARATION OF RIGHTS i6i 

3. These rights belong equally to all men, whatever may- 
be the difference of their physical and mental powers. 

4. Equality of rights is established by nature : society, far 
from impairing it, exists only to guarantee it against the abuse 
of power which renders it illusory. 

5. Liberty is the power which belongs to man to exercise 
at his will all his faculties ; it has justice for rule, the rights of 
others for limits, nature for principle, and the law for safe- 
guard. 

6. The right to assemble peaceably, the right to express 
one's opinions, either by means of the press or in any other 
manner, are such necessary consequences of the principle of the 
liberty of man, that the necessity to enunciate them supposes 
either the presence or the fresh recollection of despotism. 

7. The law can forbid only that which is injurious to soci- 
ety ; it can order only that which is useful. 

8. Every law which violates the imprescriptible rights of 
man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law. 

9. Property is the right which each citizen has, to enjoy 
and dispose of the portion of goods which the law guarantees 
to him. 

10. The right of property is restricted, as are all the others, 
by the obligation to respect the possessions of others. 

11. It cannot prejudice the security, nor the liberty, nor 
the existence, nor the property of our fellow creatures. 

12. All traffic which violates this principle is essentially il- 
licit and immoral. 

13. Society is under obligation to provide for the support 
of all its members either by procuring work for them or by as- 
suring the means of existence to those who are not in condi- 
tion to work. 

14. The relief indispensable for those who lack the neces- 
ities of life is a debt of those who possess a superfluity; it be- 
longs to the law to determine the manner in which this debt 
must be discharged. 

15. The citizens whose incomes do not exceed what is nec- 
essary for their subsistence are exempted from contributing 
to the public expenses ; the others shall support them progress- 
ively, according to the extent of their fortunes. 

16. Society ought to favor with all its power the progress 
6 



l62 ROBESPIERRE'S DECLARATION OP RIGHTS 

of public reason and to put instruction at the door of all the 
citizens. 

17. Law is the free and solemn expression of the will of 
the people. 

18. The people are the sovereign, the government io their 
creation, the public functionaries are their agents ; the people 
can, when they please, change their government and recall 
their mandatories. 

19. No portion of the people can exercise the power of 
the entire people ; but the opinion which it expresses shall 
be respected as the opinion of a portion of the people who 
ought to participate in the formation of the general will. Each 
section of the assembled sovereign ought to enjoy the right 
to express its will with entire liberty ; it is essentially inde- 
pendent of all the constituted authorities and is capable of 
regulating its police and its deliberations. 

20. The law ought to be equal for all. 

21. All citizens are admissible to all public offices, without 
any other distinctions than those of their virtues and talents 
and without any other title than the confidence of the people. 

22. All citizens have an equal right to participate in the 
selection of the mandatories of the people and in the forma- 
tion of the law. 

23. In order that these rights may not be illusory and the 
equality chimerical, society ought to give salaries to the pub- 
lic functionaries and to provide so that all the citizens v/ho 
live by their labor can be present in the public assemblies to 
which the law calls them, without compromising their exist- 
ence or that of their families. 

24. Every citizen ought to obey religiously the magistrates 
and the agents of the government, when they are the organs 
or the executors of the law. 

25. But every act against the liberty, securit}^, or property 
of a man, committed by anyone whomsoever, even in the name 
of the law, outside of the cases determined by it and the forms 
which it prescribes, is arbitrary and void; respect for the law 
even forbids submission to it; and if an attempt is made to 
execute it by violence, it is permissible to repel it by force. 

26. The right to present petitions to the depositories of the 
public authority belongs to every person. Those to whom they 



ROBESPIERRE'S DECLARATION OF RIGHTS 163 

are addressed ought to pass upon the points which £.re the 
object thereof; but they can never interdict, nor restrain, nor 
condemn their use. 

2."]. Resistance to oppression is a consequence of the other 
rights of man and citizen. 

28. There is oppression against the social body when one 
of its members is oppressed. There is oppression against each 
member of the social body when the social body shall be op- 
pressed. 

29. When the government violates the rights of the peo- 
ple, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the. 
people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of 
duties. 

30. When the social guarantee is lacking to a citizen he 
re-enters into the natural right to defend all his rights himself. 

31. In either case, to tie down to legal forms resistance 
to oppression is the last refinement of tyranny. In every free 
State the law ought especially to defend public and personal 
liberty against the abuse of the authority of those who gov- 
ern : every institution which is not based upon the assumption 
that the people are good and the magistrate is corruptible is 
vicious. 

32. The public offices cannot be considered as distinctions, 
nor as rewards, but only as duties. 

2)Z- The offences of the mandatories of the people ought 
to be severely and quickly punished. No one has the right to 
claim for himself more inviolability than other citizens. The 
people have the right to know all the transactions of their 
mandatories : these ought to render to them a faithful account 
of their own administration and to submit to their judgment 
with respect. 

34. Men of all countries are brothers and the different 
peoples ought to aid one another, according to their power, 
as if citizens of the same State. 

35. The one who oppresses a single nation declares him- 
self the enemy of all. 

2,(^. Those who make war on a people in order to arrest the 
progress of liberty and to destroy the rights of man ought 
to be pursued by all, not as ordinary enemies, but as assassins 
and rebellious brigands. 



1 64 



DEPUTIES ON MISSION DECREE 



37. Kings, aristocrats and tyrants, whoever they may be, 
are slaves in rebellion against the sovereign of the earth, 
which is mankind, and against the legislator of the universe, 
which is nature. 



37. Decree upon ths Deputies on Mission. 

April 30, 1793. MonitcAir, Mav 3, 1793. {Reimpression,- XVI, 
281-283). 

Among the iastitutions of the revolutionary government there 
was none more characteristic than the deputies on mission. 
(They are also known as the representatives on mission.) The 
first appearance of the system was at the time of the King's 
flight ; after the 10th of August it developed rapidly. This decree 
applied only to the deputies sent on mission to the armies, but 
their powers were typical of all those sent out. It simply defined 
what had already grown up in practice. In No. 4.5 the duties and 
powers of the deputies on mission are more fully set forth. 

Rbfebencbs. Gardiner, French Revolution, 146-147 ; Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 320, 364-371, 548-554 ; Aulard, Revolution 
Francaise, 342-348. 

The National Convention, after having heard the report of 
its Committee of Public Safety . . . decrees: 

I. All the powers delegated by the convention to the com- 
missioners whom it has appointed to repair to the departments 
for recruiting, to the armies, upon the frontiers, coasts and in 
the harbors, are revoked. All the deputies who are on mission, 
except those hereinafter named, shall return directly to the 
body of the assembly. 



9. The commissioners of the Convention to the armies 
shall bear the titles of representatives of the people sent to 
such army; they shall wear the costume decreed the current 
April 3. 

10. The representatives of the people sent to the armies and 
the generals shall co-operate in order to make appointments 
immediately for all the posts vacant or which shall come to 
be vacant, whether by death, resignation or dismissal, in con- 
formity with the method of promotion which has been decreed ; 
and in cases of urgency and the lack of persons who have the 



DEPUTIES ON MISSION DECREE 



165 



qualifications required by the law, they can appoint provision- 
ally and for fifteen days only. 

11. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
shall exercise the most active surveillance over the operations 
of the agents of the executive council, all contractors and 
dealers for the armies, and over the conduct of the generals, 
officers and soldiers ; they may suspend all civil agents and 
appoint [others] provisionally. 

12. They can also suspend the military agents, but they can 
replace them only provisionally until after the approval of the 
Convention for suspension or until the persons appointed or 
elected in virtue of the law have arrived at their posts. 

13. They shall look after the condition as regards defence 
and supply of provisions for all places, forts, harbors, coasts, 
armies and fleets of their district; they shall cause inventories 
to be prepared for all the magazines of the Republic, and 
they shall cause an account to be rendered daily of the condi- 
tion of all the descriptions of supplies, arms, provisions and 
munitions. 

14. They shall cause inspection to be made of all the 
armies and fleets of the republic; they shall cause to be re- 
turned every fifteen days lists of the effectives of each corps, 
signed by the civil and military agents; they shall take all 
measures which they shall deem suitable to accelerate the 
armament, equipment and incorporation of the volunteers and 
recruits in the existing organizations, and the armament and 
equipment of the fleets of the Republic ; in these operations 
they shall co-operate with the admirals, generals and division 
commanders, and other agents of the executive council. 

15. Incase of insufficiency of the forces decreed, they may 
make requisition upon the National Guards of the depart- 
ments, whom they shall cause to be organized into battalions 
after the method which shall be decreed ; they shall also make 
requisition for the mounted National Guards, in order to com- 
plete the existing organizations; and when the organizations 
shall be complete, they can form new squadrons of them, mak- 
ing use of pleasure horses and those of the fimigres or those 
which can be procured. 

16. They shall take all measures to discover and to cause 
to be arrested the generals, and to cause to be arrested and 



l56 DEPUTIES ON MISSION DECREE 

arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal every military man, 
civil agent and other citizens who may have aided, favored or 
advised a conspiracy against the liberty and security of the 
Republic, or who may have plotted for the disorganization of 
the armies and fleets and squandered the public funds. 

17. They shall cause to be distributed to the troops the 
bulletins, addresses, proclamations and instructions of the Con- 
vention, which shall be addressed to the armies by the com- 
mittee of correspondence ; they shall employ all the means of 
instruction which are in their power, in order to maintain there 
the republican spirit. 

18. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
are invested with unlimited powers for the exercise of the 
powers which are delegated to them ; they can make requisition 
upon the administrative bodies and all civil and military 
agents ; they can act in the number of two and can employ 
the number of agents which shall be necessary for them. Their 
orders shall be executed provisionally. 

20. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
shall render account of their operations, at least each week, 
to the Convention; they shall be required to address each day 
to the committee of public safety the record of their opera- 
tions, copies of their orders t.nd proclamations, and of all in- 
ventories and lists of supplies, which they shall have caused 
to be drawn up; they shall also address each day to the com- 
mittee of finance and to the national treasury a detailed ac- 
count of the lists of expenses which they shall have exam.- 
ined and endorsed. 

21. The committee of public safety shall present each week 
to the Convention a summary report of the operations of the 
various commissioners ; the committee of finance shall also 
make each week a report of the expenses examined c:nd ap- 
proved by them ; these reports shall be printed and distrib- 
uted. 

22. The representatives of the people sent to the armies 
shall be renewed by half each month ; they shall return to the 
Convention only after an authorisation given by it, except in 
urgent cases, and in virtue of a decree of the commission with 
a statement of reasons. 



CONVENTION AND EDUCATION 167 

23. The committee of public safety shall furnish instruc- 
tions to the representatives of the people sent to the armies, in 
order to secure uniformity in their operations. 

26. The representatives of the people sent to the ?rmies, 
who are appointed by the present decree, shall continue, each 
in his district, the supervision over the recruiting and the or- 
ganization into departments and districts of the countries re- 
cently united to the Republic. 

27. The committee of public safety shall send the present 
decree to the commissioners of the Convention at present on 
mission. Those who are appointed by the present decree shall 
repair directly to their new posts, and those who are at pres- 
ent with the armies shall remain there until they may be re- 
placed. 



38. Documents upon the Convention and Education. 

The Convention was greatly interested in education. Much 
time was devoted to the formulation of educational plans, even at 
the most critical stages of national danger. The plans first adopt- 
ed were frequently changed. Of the plans here given the first two 
represent the most ambitious schemes of the Convention for 
primary and secondary schools respectively. Document C is the 
final scheme for the whole educational system. 

Referknces. Stephens, Yale Rcviciv, IV, 314-323 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire Gcnerale, VIII, 534-556. 

A. Decree upon Primary Education. May 30, 1793. Du- 
vergier, Lois, V, 309. 

1. There shall be a primary school in all places which 
have from four hundred to fifteen hundred persons. 

This school shall serve for all the inhabitants except peo- 
ple who shall be more than a thousand toises distant. 

2. There shall be in each of these schools a teacher 
charged to instruct the pupils in the branches of knowledge 
necessary to citizens in order to exercise their rights, to dis- 
charge their duties and to administer their domestic affairs. 

3. The committee of public instruction shall present the 
proportional method for the more populous communes and the 
cities. 



1 68 CONVENTION AND EDUCATION 

4. The teachers shall be charged to give lectures and in- 
struction once per week to citizens of every age and of both 
sexes. 

5. The project of the present decree presented by the com- 
mittee of public instruction shall be irrevocably placed as the 
order of the day for every Thursday, 

B, Decree upon Secondary Education. February 25, 1795 
(29 Ventose, Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 29-30. 

Chapter I. Institution of the Central Schools. 

1. For instruction in the sciences, letters and arts there 
shall be established in the entire extent of the Republic ceii 
tral schools distributed on the basis of population; the pro- 
portional basis shall be one school for three hundred thousand 
inhabitants. 

2. Each central school shall be composed of, ist, a profes- 
sor of mathematics; 2d, a professor of experimental physics 
and chemistry; 3d, a professor of natural history; 4tli, a 
professor of agriculture and commerce ; 5th, a professor of the 
method of the sciences or logic; 6th, a professor of political 
economy and legislation ; 7th, a professor of the philosophical 
history of peoples; 8th, a professor of hygiene; 9th, a pro- 
fessor of arts and crafts; loth, a professor of general gram- 
mar; nth, a professor of belles-lettres; 12th, a professor of 
ancient languages; 13th, a professor of the living languages 
most appropriate to the localities; 14th, a professor of the 
arts of design. 

3. In all the central schools the professors shall give their 
lessons in French. 

4. They shall have every month a public conference upon 
matters which affect the progress of the sciences, letters and 
arts most useful to society. 

5. At each central school there shall be, ist, a public li- 
brary; 2d, a garden and a cabifiet of natural history; 3d, a 
cabinet of experimental physics; 4th, a collection of machines 
and models for the arts and crafts. 

6. The committee of public instruction remains charged to 
cause to be composed the elementary books which muct serve 
for the instruction in the central schools. 



CONVENTION AND EDUCATION 169 

Chapter III. Pupils of the Fatherland. 

1. The pupils who at the Festival of Youth shall be most 
distinguished and shall have obtained more especially the 
approbation of the people shall receive, if they are of small 
fortune, an annual pension in order to procure for them the 
opportunity to attend the central schools. 

2. Prizes of encouragement shall be distributed every year 
in the presence of the people at the Festival of Youth. 

The professor of the pupils who shall have won the prize 
shall receive a civic crown. 

3. In consequence of the present law, all the establishments 
devoted to public instruction, under the name of colleges and 
paid stipends by the nation, are and shall remain suppressed 
within the entire extent of the Republic. 

4. The committee of public instruction shall make a report 
upon the buildings and establishments already devoted to pub- 
lic instruction in the sciences and arts, such as botanical gar- 
dens, cabinets of natural history, fields intended for experi- 
ments in cultivation, observations, and societies of schohrs and 
artists which it may be well to preserve in the new plan of 
national instruction. 

C Organic Act upon Education. October 25, 1795 (3 
Brumaire. Year III). Duvergier, Lois, VIII, 357-361. 



TITLE HI. OF THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS, 

I. There shall be in the Republic schools especially intend- 
ed for the study of: ist, astronomy; 2d, geometry and me- 
chanics; 3d, natural history; 4th, medicine; 5th, the veter- 
inary art; 6th, rural economy; 7th, antiquities; 8th, the polit- 
ical sciences; 9th, painting, sculpture and architecture; loth, 
music. 



TITLE IV. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF THE SCIENCES AND ARTS. 

I. The National Institute of the Sciences and Arts belongs 
to the whole Republic ; it is located at Paris : it is intended : 
ist, to improve the sciences and arts by uninterrupted research- 
es, by the publication of discoveries, by correspondence with 
foreign learned societies; 2d, to pursue, in conformity with the 



170 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 



laws and orders of the Executive Directory, literary and sci- 
entific works which shall have for their purpose the general 
advantage and the glory of the Republic, 

2. It is composed of members residing at Paris and of an 
equal number scattered in the different parts of the Republic ; 
it associates with itself foreign scholars, of whom the number 
is twenty-four, eight for each of the three classes. 



6. Each class of the Institute shall publish every year its 
discoveries and works. 



10. The Institute being once organized, the. appointments 
to vacant places shall be made by the Institute out of a list, 
at least triple, presented by the claiss in which a place shall 
have become vacant. 



39. Constitution of the Year 



June 24, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, V, 352-358, 

This constitution was drawn up by the Convention and was 
submitted to the people. Although accepted by them, it was never 
put in operation, being first temporarily suspended and afterwards 
set aside. It possesses decided interest, nevertheless, since it 
represents the ideas of the Montagnards as to the best permanent 
form of government. It should be compared with their schemes of 
provisional government (Nos. 43 and 45) and with the con- 
stitutions of 1791 and of the Year III (Nos. 15 and 50), espec- 
ially with respect to the executive and legislative branches of the 
government. 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 227-229 ; Stephens, 
French Revolution, II, 530-535 ; Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 
Part ir, Ch, IV ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII. 
179-180. 



Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. 

The French people, convinced that forgetfulness and con- 
tempt of the natural rights of man are the sole causes of 
the miseries of the world, have resolved to set forth in a 
solemn declaration these sacred and inalienable rights in order 



CONSTITUTION OP THE YEAR I 171 

that all the citizens, being able to compare unceasingly the 
acts of the government with the aim of every social institu- 
tion, may never allow themselves to be oppressed and debased 
by tyranny; and in order that the people may always have 
before their eyes the foundations of their liberty and their 
welfare, the magistrate the rule of his duties, the legislator 
the purpose of his commission. 

In consequence, it proclaims in the presence of the Su- 
preme Being the following declaration of the rights of man 
and citizen. 

T. The aim of society is the common welfare. 

Government is instituted in order tO' guarantee to man the 
enjoyment of his natural and imprescriptible rights. 

2. These rights are equality, liberty, security, and property. 

3. All men are equal by nature and before the law. 

4. Law is the free and solemn expression of the general 
will; it is the same for all, whether it protects or punishes; 
it can command only what is just and useful to society; it 
can forbid only what is injurious to it. 

5. All citizens are equally eligible to public employments. 
Free peoples know no other grounds for preference in their 
elections than virtue and talent. 

6. Liberty is the power that belongs to man to do what- 
ever is not injurious to the rights of others : it has nature 
for its principle, justice for its rule, law for its defence ; its 
moral limit is in this maxim : Do not do to another that which 
you do not wish should be done to you. 

7. The right to express one's thoughts and opinions by 
means of the press or in any other manner, the right to assem- 
ble peaceably, the free pursuit of religion, cannot be forbidden. 

The necessity of enunciating these rights supposes either 
the presence or the recollection of recent despotism. 

8. Security consists in the protection afforded by society 
to each of its members for the preservation of his person, his 
rights, and his property. 

9. The law ought to protect public and personal liberty 
against the oppression of those who govern. 

10. No one ought to be accused, arrested, or detained 
except in the cases determined by law and according to the 
forms that it has prescribed. Any citizen summoned or seized 



172 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 

by the authority of the law, ought to obey immediately: he 
makes himself guilty by resistance. 

11. Any act done against a man outside of the cases and 
without the forms that the law determines is arbitrary and 
tyrannical; the one against whom it may be intended to 
be executed by violence has the right to repel it by force, 

12. Those who may incite, expedite, subscribe to, execute 
or cause to be executed arbitrary legal instruments are guilty 
and ought to be punished. 

13. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been 
pronounced guilty, if it is thought indispensable to arrest 
him, all severity that may not be necessary to secure his person 
ought to be strictly repressed by law. 

14. No one ought to be tried and punished except after 
having been heard or legally summoned, and except in virtue 
of a law promulgated prior to the offence. The law which 
would punish offences committed before it existed would be 
a tyranny: the retroactive effect given to the law would be 
a crime. 

.15. The law ought to impose only penalties that are 
strictly and obviously necessary: the punishments ought to 
be proportionate to the offence and useful to society. 

16. The right of property is that which belongs to every 
citizen; to enjoy, and to dispose at his pleasure of his goods, 
income, and of the fruits of his labor and his skill. 

17. No kind of labor, tillage, or commerce can be for- 
bidden to the skill of the citizens. 

18. Every man can contract his services and his time, 
but he cannot sell himself nor be sold: his person is not an 
alienable property. The law knows of no such thing as the 
status of servant; there can exist only a contract for services 
and compensation between the man who works and the one 
who employs him. 

19. No one can be deprived of the least portion of his 
property without his consent, unless a legally established 
public necessity requires it and upon condition of a just and 
prior compensation. 

20. No tax can be imposed except for the general advan- 
tage. All citizens have the right to participate in the estab- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 173 

lishment of taxes, to watch over the employment of them, 
and to cause an account of them to be rendered. 

21. Public relief is a sacred debt. Society owes mainte- 
nance to unfortunate citizens, either in procuring work for 
them or in providing the means of existence for those who 
are unable to labor. 

22. Education is needed by all. Society ought to favor 
with all its power the advancement of the pubHc reason and 
to put education at the door of every citizen. 

23. The social guarantee consists in the action of all to 
secure to each the enjoyment and the maintenance of his rights : 
this guarantee rests upon the national sovereignty. 

24. It cannot exist if the limits of public functions are 
not clearly determined by law and if the responsibility of -all 
the functionaries is not secured. 

25. The sovereignty resides in the people; it is one and 
indivisible, imprescriptible, and inalienable. 

26. No portion of the people can exercise the power of 
the entire people; but each section of the sovereign, in as- 
sembly, ought to enjoy the right to express its will with entire 
freedom. 

27. Let any person who may usurp the sovereignty be 
instantly put to death by free men. 

28. A people has always the right to review, to reform, and 
to alter its constitution. One generation cannot subject to its 
law the future generations. 

29. Each citizen has an equal right to participate in the 
formation of the law and in the selection of his mandatories or 
his agents. 

30. PubHc functions are necessarily temporary; they can- 
not be considered as distinctions or rewards, but as duties. 

31. The offences of the representatives of the people and 
of its agents ought never to go unpunished. No one has the 
right to claim for himself more inviolability than other cit- 
izens. 

32. The right to present petitions to the depositories of 
the public authority cannot in any case be forbidden, sus- 
pended, nor limited. 

33. Resistance to oppression is the consequence of the other 
rights of man. 



174 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 



34. There is oppression against the social body when a 
single one of its members is oppressed: there is oppression 
against each member when the social body is oppressed, 

35. When the government violates the rights of the people, 
insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the 
people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of 
duties. 

CONSTITLIIONAL ACT. 

Of the Republic. 

1. The French Republic is one and indivisible. 

Of the Division of the People. 

2. The French people is divided, for the exercise of its 
sovereignty, into cantonal primary assemblies. 

3. It is divided for administration and for justice into 
departments, districts, and municipalities. 

Of the Conditions of Citizenship. 

4. Every man born and living in France fully twenty-one 
years of age; 

Every foreigner fully twenty-one years of age, who, do- 
miciled in France for a year. 

Lives there by his own labor. 

Or acquires property, 

Or marries a French woman. 

Or adopts a child. 

Or supports an aged man, 

Finally, every foreigner who shall be thought by the Leg- 
islative Body to ihave deserved well of humanity, 

Is admitted to the exercise of the rights of French citizen- 
ship. ^ 

5- The exercise of the rights of citizenship is lost : 

By naturalization in a foreign country; 

By the acceptance of employments or favors proceeding 
from a non-popular government ; 

By condemnation to ignominious or afflictive penalties until 
rehabilitation. 

6. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is suspended: 

By the condition of accusation ; 

By a judicial order for contempt of court until the order 
is abrogated. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 



175 



Of the Sovereignty of the People. 

7. The sovereign people is the totality of French citizens. 

8. It selects its deputies directly. 

9. It delegates to electors the choice of the administrators, 
the public arbitrators, criminal judges, and judges of cassa- 
tion, 

10. It deliberates upon the laws. 

Of the Primary Assemblies. 

11. The primary assemblies are composed of the citizens 
domiciled for six months in each canton. 

12. They are composed at the least of two hundred and at 
the most of six hundred citizens summoned to vote. 

13. They are constituted by the selection of a president, 
secretaries and tellers. 

14. Their policing belongs to themselves. 

15. No one can appear in them with arms. 

16. The elections are conducted by either secret or open 
voting at the choice of each voter. 

17. A primary assembly cannot in any case prescribe a 
uniform method of voting. 

18. The tellers attest the vote of citizens who, not know- 
ing how to write, prefer to vote by ballot. 

19. Votes upon the laws are given by yes or no. 

20. The will of the primary assembly is proclaimed as 
follows : The citizens met in primary assembly . . . to 
the number of . . . voters, vote for or vote against, by 
a majority of . . . 

Of the Nationr„l Representation. 

21. Population is the sole basis of the national representa- 
tion. 

22. There is one deputy for every forty thousand persons. 

2T). Each union of primary assemblies resulting in a pop- 
ulation of thirty-nine to forty-one thousand souls selects direct- 
ly one deputy. 

24. The selection is made by the majority of the votes. 

25. Each assembly counts the votes and sends a commis- 
sioner for the general recording to the place designated as 
the most central. 

26. If the first return does not give a majority, a second 



1^6 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 

appeal is made and a vote is taken upon the two citizens 
who have received the greatest number of votes. 

27. In case of an equaHty of votes the most aged has the 
preference, either as the one to be voted upon or as the one 
elected. In case of an equality of age, lot decides. 

28. Every Frenchman exercising the rights of citizenship 
is eligible throughout the extent of the Republic. 

29. Each deputy belongs to the entire nation. 

30. In case of the non-acceptance, resignation, forfeiture, 
or death of a deputy, his replacement is provided for by the 
primary assemblies which selected him. 

31. A deputy who has resigned cannot leave his post until 
after the admittance of his successor. 

22. The French people assembles every year on the first 
of May for the elections. 

33. They proceed to them, whatever may be the number 
of citizens there having the right to vote. 

34. The primary assemblies meet in extraordinary session 
upon the request of one-fifth of the citizens who have the 
right to vote there. 

35. The convocation is issued in that case by the mu- 
nicipality of the usual place of meeting. 

36. These extraordinary assemblies transact business only 
if a half plus one of the citizens who have the right to vote 
there are present. 

Of the Electoral Assemblies. 

37. The citizens meet in primary assemblies and select one 
elector for every two hundred citizens, whether present or 
not ; two for three hundred and one to four hundred ; three 
for five hundred and one to six hundred. 

38. The holding of electoral assemblies and the method of 
election are the same as in the primary assemblies. 

Of the Legislative Bod}^ 

39. The Legislative Body is one, indivisible, and perma- 
nent. 

40. The session is for one year. 

41. It meets the first of July. 

42. The National Assembly cannot constitute itself if it 
is not composed of at least one-half of the deputies plus one. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 



177 



43. The deputies cannot be questioned, accused, or tried 
at any time for the opinions that they have expressed within 
the Legislative Body. 

44. They can be arrested for criminal acts, if taken in 
the act; but the warrant of arrest and the warrant of appre- 
hension can be issued against them only with the authorisation 
of the Legislative Body. 

Holding of the Sittings of the Legislative Body. 

45. The sittings of the National Assembly are public. 

46. The minutes of its sittings are printed. 

47. It cannot deliberate unless it is composed of at least 
two hundred members. 

48. It cannot refuse the word to its members in the order 
that they have claimed it. 

49. It decides by the majority of those present. 

50. Fifty members have the right to require a vote by 
roll call. 

51. It has the right of discipline upon the conduct of its 
members v^^ithin its own midst. 

52. The policing of the place of its sittings and of the 
environs of which it has fixed the extent belongs to it. 

Of the Functions of the Legislative Body. 

53. The Legislative Body proposes laws and issues de- 
crees. 

54. Included under the general name of laiv are the acts 
of the Legislative Body in regard to : 

Civil and criminal legislation ; 

The general administration of the revenues and ordinary 
expenses of the Republic; 
The national domains ; 

The title, weight, impress, and denomination of the monies; 
The nature, amount, and collection of the. taxes ; 
The declaration of war; 

Every new general division of the French territory; 
Public instruction ; 
Public honors to the memory of great men. 

55. Included under the special name of decree are the acts 
of the Legislative Body in regard to : 

The annual establishment of the land and sea forces ; 



J78 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 

Permission or prohibition of the passage of foreign troops 
over French soil ; 

The introduction of foreign naval forces into the ports of 
the Repubhc; 

Measures of general security and tranquility; 

The annual and momentary distribution of public relief 
and work; 

Orders for the coining of money of every sort; 

Unforeseen and extraordinary expenses ; 

The local and special measures for an administration, a 
commune, or a class of public works ; 

The defence of the soil ; 

Ratification of treaties; 

The appointment and dismissal of commanders-in-chief of 
the armies ; 

Proceedings to enforce the responsibility of members of 
the Council and of public officials; 

Accusation of those accused of plots against the general 
security of the Republic ; 

Every alteration in the division of French territory into 
parts ; 

National rewards. 

Of the Formation of the Law. 

56. Projects of law are preceded by a report. 

57. The discussion cannot begin and the law cannot be pro- 
visionally decreed until fifteen days after the report. 

58. The project is printed and sent to all the communes 
of the Republic under this title : Proposed lazv. 

59. Forty days after the sending of the proposed law, if in 
one-half of the departments plus one, a tenth of the regularly 
constituted primary assemblies of each of them do not object, 
the project is accepted and becomes lazv. 

60. If there is objection, the Legislative Body convokes the 
primary assemblies. 

Of the Title of the Laws and Decrees. 
6r. The laws, the decrees, the judicial orders, and all pub- 
lic acts are superscribed: In the name of the French people, 
ihe year . . . of the French Republic. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I lyg 

Of the Executive Council. 

62. There is an executive council composed of twenty-four 
members. 

6^. The electoral assembly of each department selects a 
candidate. The Legislative Body chooses the members of the 
council from the general list. 

64. It is renewed by a half at each legislature in the last 
month of its session. 

65. The council is charged with the direction and super- 
vision of the general administration ; it can act only in the exe- 
cution of the laws and decrees of the Legislative Body. 

66. It appoints, from outside of its own body, the principal 
agents of the general administration of the Republic. 

6y. The Legislative Body determines the number and the 
duties of these agents. 

68. These agents do not form a council ; they are separated 
and are without direct relations with each other ; they do not 
exercise any personal authority. 

69. The council appoints, from outside its own body, the 
foreign agents of the Republic. 

70. It negotiates the treaties. 

71. The members of the council, in cases of betrayal of 
trust, are accused by the Legislative Body. 

y2. The council is responsible for the non-execution of the 
laws and decrees and for abuses of which it does not give 
notice. 

y^. It recalls and replaces the agents within its appoint- 
ment. 

74. It is required to denounce them, if there is occasion, to 
the judicial authorities. 

Of the Relations of the Executive Council with the 
Legislative Body. 

75. The Executive Council resides near the Legislative 
Body; it has admittance and a separate position in the place 
of its meetings. 

76. It is heard whenever it has a statement to make. 

yy. The Legislative Body summons it into its presence, in 
whole or in part, whenever it thinks expedient. 



l8o CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 

Of the Administrative and Municipal Bodies. 

78. There is in each commune of the RepubHc a municipal 
administration ; 

In each district, an intermediate administration; 
In each department, a central administration. 

79. The municipal officers are elected by the communal as- 
semblies. 

80. The administrators are appointed by the department 
and district electoral assemblies. 

81. The municipalities and the administrations are renewed 
each year by half. 

S2. The administrators and municipal officers have no rep- 
resentative character. 

They cannot in any case alter the acts of the Legislative 
Body nor suspend the execution of them. 

83. The Legislative Body fixes the duties of the municipal 
officers and the administrators, the rules of their subordination, 
and the penalties that they may incur. 

84. The sittings of the municipalities and the administra- 
tions are public. 

Of Civil Justice. 

85. The Code of civil and penal laws is uniform for the 
whole Republic. 

86. No attack can be made upon the right that the citizens 
have to cause their differences to be passed upon by arbitrators 
of their own choice. 

87. The decision of these arbitrators is final if citizens do 
not reserve the right to object. 

88. There are justices of the peace elected by the citizens of 
the districts fixed by the law. 

89. They conciliate and pass judgment without expense. 

90. Their number and competency are regulated by the 
Legislative Body. 

91. There are public arbitrators elected by the electoral as- 
semblies. 

92. Their number and their districts are fixed by the Legis- 
lative Body. 

93. They have jurisdiction over cases which have not been 
finally terminated by the private arbitrators or by justices o£ 
the peace. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I igi 

94. They deliberate in public. 
They deliver their opinions orally. 

They decide in the last resort, upon oral pleas or simple me- 
morial, without proceedings and without expense. 
They state the grounds for their decisions. 

95. The justices of the peace and the public arbitrators are 
elected every year. 

Of Crimmal Justice. 

96. No citizen can be tried upon a criminal charge except 
upon an accusation received by the jurors or decreed by the 
Legislative Body. 

The accused have counsel chosen by themselves or officially 
appointed. 

The examination is public. 

The facts and the intent are declared by a trial jury. 

The penalty is awarded by a criminal jury. 

97. The criminal judges are elected every year by the elec- 
toral assemblies. 

Of the Tribunal of Cassation. 

98. There is a Tribunal of Cassation for the whole Re- 
public. 

99. This Tribunal does not have jurisdiction over the 
matter of cases. 

It passes upon the violation of forms and upon clear infrac- 
tions of the law. 

100. The members of this court are appointed every year by 
the electoral assemblies. 

Of the Public Taxes, 
loi. No citizen is exempt from the honorable obligation to 
contribute to the public expenses. 

Of the National Treasury. 

102. The National Treasury is the central point of the re- 
ceipts and expenditures of the Republic. 

103. It is administered by responsible agents appointed by 
the Executive Council. 

104. These agents are watched over by commissioners ap- 
pointed by the Legislative Body, taken from outside of itself, 
and responsible for the abuses of which they do not give 
notice. 



l82 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR I 

Of the Book-Keeping. 

105. The accounts of the agents of the National Treasury 
and of the administrators of the public monies are rendered an- 
nually tO' responsible commissioners appointed by the Execu- 
tive Council. 

106. These auditors are watched over by commissioners 
appointed by the Legislative Body, taken from outside of it- 
self, and responsible for the abuses and errors of which they 
do not give notice. 

The Legislative Body approves the accounts. 

Of the Forces of the Republic. 

107. The general force of the Republic is composed of the 
entire people. 

108. The Republic supports, even in time of peace,- a paid 
army and navy. 

109. All Frenchmen are soldiers ; they are all trained in the 
handling of arms. 

no. There is no commander-in-chief. 

Tii. Distinctions of rank, their distinguishing marks and 
subordination exist only in relation to the service and during 
its continuance. 

112. The public force employed for the maintenance of order 
and peace within the country acts only upon the written requi- 
sition of the constituted authorities. 

113. The public force employed against enemies from 
abroad acts under the orders of the Executive Council. 

T14. No armed body can deliberate. 

Of the National Conventions. 

115. If, in one-half of the departments plus one, one-tenth 
of the regularly constituted primary assemblies of each of them 
request the revision of the constitutional act or the alteration of 
some of its articles, the Legislative Body is required to con- 
voke all the primary assemblies of the Republic, in order to 
ascertain if there is occasion for a National Convention. 

116. The National Convention is formed in the same man- 
ner as the legislatures and annexes the powers thereof. 

117. It occupies itself, in relation to the constitution, only 
with the obiects that have led to its convocation. 



DECREE FOR LEVY EN MASSE 183 

Of the Relations of the French Republic with 
Foreign Nations. 

118. The French people is the friend and natural ally of 
the free peoples. 

119. It does not interfere in the government of other na- 
tions ; it does not permit other nations to interfere in its own, 

120. It gives asylum to foreigners banished from their 
fatherland for the cause of liberty. 

It refuses it to tyrants. 

121. It does not make peace with an enemy that occupies 
its territory. 

Of the Guaranty of Rights. 

122. The Constitution guarantees to all Frenchmen equality, 
liberty, security, property, the public debt, the free exercise of 
worship, a public education, public relief, unlimited freedom of 
the press, the right of petition, the right to meet in popular so- 
cieties, and the enjoyment of all the rights of man. 

123. The French Republic honors loyalty, courage, old age, 
filial devotion, and misfortune. It places the trust of the con- 
stitution under the guardianship of all the virtues. 

124. The declaration of rights and the constitutional act 
are graven upon tablets in the midst of the Legislative Body and 
in public places. 



40. Decree for the Levy en Masse. 

August 23, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, VI, 107-108. 

This document exhibits something of the spirit with which 
France met the invasion of its territory, and may serve to in- 
dicate how it was possible for her to accomplish so much against 
such overwhelming odds. It was, of course, never intended that 
the decree should be everywhere put in force. It was enforced in 
the invaded departments and those adjacent. The precise effects 
of the measure is a matter of dispute. 

Refekences. Gardiner, French Revolution, 170-171 ; Von Sy- 
bel, French Revolution, III, 165-169 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, His- 
toire Generale, VIII, 267-269. 

I. From this moment until that in which the enemy shall 
have been driven from the soil of the Republic, all Frenchmen 
are in permanent requisition for the service of the armies. 



l84 DECREE FOR LEVY EN MASSE 

The young men shall go to battle; the married men ishall 
forge arms and transport provisions ; the women shall make 
tents and clothing and shall serve in the hospitals ; the children 
shall turn old linen into lint; the aged shall betake themselves 
to the public places in order to arouse the courage of the 
warriors and preach the hatred of kings and the unity of the 
Republic. 

2. The national buildings shall be converted into barracks, 
the public places into workshops for arms, the soil of the. cel- 
lars shall be washed in order to extract therefrom the saltpetre. 

3. The arms of the regulation calibre shall be reserved ex- 
clusively for those who shall march again,st the enemy; the 
service of the interior shall be performed with hunting pieces 
and side arms. 

4. The saddle horses are put in requisition to comp-lete the 
cavalry corps ; the draught-horses, other than those employed 
in agriculture, shall convey the artillery and the provisions. 

5. The Committee of Public Safety is charged to take all 
the necessary measures to set up without delay an extraordi- 
nary manufacture of arms of every soft which correspondls 
with the ardor and energy of the French people. It is, ac- 
cordingly, authorised to form, all the establishments, factories, 
workshops and mills which shall be deemed necessary for the 
carrying on of these works, as well as to put in requisition, 
within the entire extent of the Republic, the artists and work- 
ingmen who can contribute to their success. For this purpose 
there shall be put at the disposal of the Minister of War a 
sum of thirty millions, to be taken out of the four hundred 
ninety-eight million two hundred thousand Hvres in aissignafs 
which are in reserve in the fund of the three keys. The cen,- 
tral establishment of this extraordinary manufacture shall be 
fixed at Paris. 

6. The representatives of the people sent out for the execu- 
tion of the present law shall have the same authority in their 
re{spective districts, acting in concert with the Committee of 
Public Safety; they are invested with the unlimited powers 
assigned to the representatives of the people to the armies. 

7. Nobody can get himself replaced in the service for 
which he shall have been requisitioned. The public functionar- 
ies shall remain at their posts. 



THE LAW OF SUSPECTS 185 

8. The levy shall be general. The unmarried citizens and 
widowers without children, from eighteen to twenty-five years, 
shall march first; they shall assemble without delay at the 
head-town of their districts, where they shall practice every 
day at the manual of arms while awaiting the hour of de- 
parture. 



41. The Law of Suspects. 

September 17, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, VI, 172-173. 

This famous law was one of the numerous exceptional meas- 
ures taken in August and September, 1793, which mark the be- 
ginning of the Reign of Terror. To understand why it was en- 
acted the precise status of both the foreign and civil wars then 
in progress should be noted. The terms in which the classes of 
suspects are defined call for special attention. The "committees 
of surveillance"' to which the arrest of suspects is entrusted were 
those commonly called the revolutionary committees. (See No. 
33.) 

Repeeences. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 324-325 ; Au- 
lard, Revohition Francaise, 351 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
Generale, VIII, 191. 

1. Immediately after the publication of the present de- 
cree all the suspect-persons who are in the territory of the 
Republic and who are still at liberty shall be placed under 
arrest. 

2. These are accounted suspect-persons : ist, those who by 
their conduct, their connections, their remarks or their writ- 
ings show themselvejs the partisans of tyranny or federalism 
and the enemies of liberty; 2d, those who cannot, in the manner 
prescribed by the decree of March 21st last, justify their 
means of existence and the performance of their civic duties ; 
3d, those who have been refused certificates of civism ; 4th, 
public functionaries suspended or removed from their functions 
by the National Convention or its commissioners and not re- 
instated, especially those who have been or shall be removed 
in virtue of the decree of August 14th last ; 5th, those of the 
former nobles, all of the husbands, wives, fathers, -mothers, 
sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, and agents of the 



j85 the law of suspects 

Emigres who have not constantly manifested their attach- 
ment to the revolution; 6th, those who have emigrated from 
France in the interval from July i, 1789, to the publication 
of the decree of March 30 — April 8, 1792, although they may 
have returned to France within the period fixed by that decree 
or earlier. 

3. The committees of surveillance established according to 
the decree of March 21st last, or those which have been sub- 
stituted for them, either by the orders of the representatives 
of the people sent with the armieis and into the departments, 
or in virtue of special decrees of the National Convention, are 
charged to prepare, each in its district, the list of suspect-per- 
sons, to issue warrants of arrest against them, and to cause 
seals to be put upon their papers. The commanders of the pub- 
lic force to whom these warrants shall be delivered shall be 
required to put them into execution immediately, under pen- 
alty of removal. 

4. The members of the committee without being seven in 
number and an absolute majority of votes cannot order the 
arrest of any person. 

5. The persons arrested as suspects shall be first conve3'ed 
to the jail of the place of their imprisonment ; in default of 
jailis, they shall be kept from view in their respective dwellings. 

6. Within the eight days following they shall be trans- 
ferred to the national building, which the administrations of 
the department, immediately after the receipt of the present 
decree, shall be required to designate and to cause to be pre- 
pared for that purpose. 

7. The prisoners can cause to be transferred to these 
buildings the movables which are of absolute necessity to 
them; they shall remain there under guard until the peace. 

8. The expenses of custody shall be at the charge of the 
prisoners and shall be divided among them equally: this cus- 
tody shall be confided preferably to the fathers of families and 
the parents of the citizens who are or shall go to the frontiers. 
The salary for it is fixed for each man of the guard at the 
value of a day and a half of labor. 

9. The committees of surveillance shall send withoi'.t delay 
to the committee of general security of the National Conven- 
tion the list of the persons whom they shall have caused to be 



LAW OF THE MAXIMUM igr 

arrested, with the reasons for their arrest and the papers which 
shall have been seized with them as suspect-persons. 

10. The civil and criminal tribunals can, if there is need, 
cause to be arre/sted and sent into the above mentioned jails 
persons accused of offences in respect of whom it may have 
been declared that there was no ground for accusation, or who 
may have been acquitted of the accusations brought against 
them. 



42. Lav,/ of the Maximum. 

September 29, 1793. Duvergier, Lois, VI, 193-195. 

Among the exceptionial measures of August and September, 
1793, the most important from the economic standpoint were those 
fixing maximum prices of wages and of many articles of necessity. 
The law here given is the most comprehensive in a series of such 
measures. The idea of fixing prices in this manner was not new, but 
was simply an extension of the practices of the government of the 
Old Regime and of measures taken in the spring of 1793. In 
connection with this law the operation of the Parisian revolution- 
ary army and the system of requisitions should be noted. The 
law was not repealed until December 24, 1794. * 

References. Mathews, French Revolution, 245-246 ; Stephens, 
Freneh Resolution, II, 353-354 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoirc 
Generate, VIII, 190-191, 626-627. 



The articles which the Convention has decided to be of 
prime necessity and for which it has believed that it ought to 
fix the maximum or highest price are: fresh meat, salt meat 
and bacon, butter, sweet-oil, cattle, salt fish, wine, brandy, vin- 
egar, cider, beer, fire-wood, charcoal, mineral coal, candles, 
combustible oil, salt, ,soda, sugar, honey, white paper, skins, 
iron, brass, lead, steel, copper, hemp, linen, wool, woolens, 
fabrics, the raw materials which serve for fabrics, sabots, 
shoes, cabbages and turnips, soap, potash, and tobacco. 

2. For the articles included in the above list, the maximum 
of price for fire-wood of the first quality, that of charcoal and 
of mineral coal, are the same as in 1790, plus a twentieth of 
the price. The decree of August igth upon the determination 
by the departments of the prices of fire-wood, coal and peat is 
repealed. 



l88 LAW OF THE I^IAXIMUM 

The maximum or highest price of tobacco in rolls is twenty 
sous per Hire of one mark in weight; that of smoking tobac- 
co is ten sous; that of salt per Hv7'e is two sous; that of soap 
is twenty-five sous. 

3. The maximum of the price of all the other commodities 
and articles of merchandise included in article i for the whole 
extent of the Republic, until the month of September next, 
shall be the price which each of them had in 1790, such as is 
established by the official price-lists or the market price of eath 
department, and a third over and above this same price, de- 
duction being made of fiscal and other duties to which they 
were then subject, under whatever denomination they may 
have existed. 



7. All persons who may sell or purchase the articles of 
merchandise included in article i above the maximum of the 
price settled and posted in each department shall pay by way 
of the municipal police a fine, for which they shall be jointly 
and severally liable, of double the value of the article sold and 
payable to the informer: they shall be enrolled upon the list 
of suspected persons and treated as such. The purchaser shall 
not be subject to the penalties provided above, if he denounces 
the offence of the seller; and each merchant shall be required 
to have a list displayed in his shop, bearing the maximum or 
highest price of his merchandise. 

8. The maximum or highest price belongnig to salaries, 
wages, and manual labor in each place, shall be fixed, to 
commence from the publication of this law until the month 
of September next, by the general councils of the communes 
at the same amount as in 1790, to which there shall be added 
half of that price in addition. 

9. The municipaHties shall put into requisition and punish, 
according to circumstances, with three days' imprisonment the 
workingmen, factory operatives and various laboring persons 
who may refuse without legitimate reasons to engage in their 
accustomed labors. 



17. During the war all exportation of articles of merchan- 



REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT DECREE 189 

dise or commodities of prime necessity, under any name or 
commission whatsoever, is prohibited upon all the frontiers, 
salt excepted. 



43. Decree upon the Revolutionary Government. 

October 10, 1793 (19 Vend^miaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois^ 
VI, 219-220. 

This decree Wias adopted by the Convention at the time when it 
decided, on account of the critical condition of the country, not to 
put the Constitution of tlie Year I into operation immediately. 
As a sort of provisional constitution it served as the basis of gov- 
ernment until replaced by the great decree of 14 Frimaire (Decem- 
ber 4, 1793). See No. 45. The meaning of the term revolution- 
ary government can be deduced from the character of the arrange- 
ments here provided and should be carefully noted. 

Refekencks. Stephens. French Revolution, II, 280-281 ; La- 
visse and Rambaud. Histoire Generale, VIII, 196-197 ; Aulard. 
Bcvoluiion Fvancaise, 314-315, 366-368. 

Of the Government. 

1. The provisional Government of France is revolutionary 
until the peace. 

2. The provisional executive council, the ministers, the 
generals, and the constituted bodieis are placed under the sur- 
veillance of the committee of public safety, which shall render 
account of them to the Convention every eight days. 

3. Every measure of security must be taken by the pro- 
visional executive council, under the authorisation of the com- 
mittee, which shall render an account thereof to the Conven- 
tion. 

4. The revolutionary laws must be executed rapidly. The 
Government shall correspond immediately with the districts up- 
on the measures of public safety. 

5. The generals-in-chief shall be appointed by the National 
Convention, upon the presentation of the committee of public 
safety. 

6. The inertia of the Government being the cause of the 
reverses, the limits for the execution of the decrees and meas- 
ures of public safety are fixed. Violation of these limits shall 
be punished as an attack upon liberty. 



igo 



REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT DECREE 



Subsistences. 

7. The table of the production of gram for each district, 
made by the committee of public safety, shall be printed and 
distributed to all the members of the Convention, in order to 
be put into operation without delay. 

8. The needs of each department shall be estimated by ap- 
proximation and secured. The surplus shall be subject to the 
requisitions. 

9. The table of the productions of the Republic shall be 
addressed to the representatives of the people, the ministers of 
the navy and the interior, and the administrators of subsis- 
tences. They must make requisitions in the districts which 
shall have been assigned to them. Paris shall be a special dis- 
trict. 

10. The requisitions in behalf of the unfruitful depart- 
ments shall be authorised and regulated by the provisional ex- 
ecutive council. 

11. Paris shall be supplied with provisions on March ist 
for one year. 

General Security. 

12. The direction and employment of the revolutionary 
army shall be constantly regulated in a way to put down the 
counter-revolutionaries. 

The committee of public safety shall present a plan for this 
purpose. 

13. The council shall send garrisons into the cities where 
counter-revolutionary movements shall arise. The garrisons 
shall be paid and supported by the rich of these cities until the 
peace. 

Finances. 

14. There shall be created a tribunal and a jury of ac- 
,.ounts. This tribunal and this jury shall be appointed by the 
National Convention ; they shall be charged to proceed against 
all those who have managed the public funds since the revolu- 
tion and to demand of them an account of their fortunes. 

The organization of this tribunal is recommitted to the 
committee of legislation. 



REPUBLICAN CALENDAR DECREE 



44. Decree for the Republican Calendar. 



191 



Novembei" 24, 1793 (4 Primaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, 
VI, 294-302. 

This is the first of two decrees by which the republican calen- 
dar displaced the Gregorian calendar. The later decree provided 
additional details, but did not essentially modify the scheme here 
presented. Until about 1803 the new calendar was used to the 
entire exclusion of the old ; then for a time the two were used 
together. The republican calendar was not altogether abandoned 
until January 1, 1806. Both the general scheme of the calendar 
and the reasons given for its adoption should be noticed. 

Refeeencios. Stephens. Yale Review, IV, 326-330 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 193-194 ; Stephens, French 
Revolution, II, 561, has a concordance of the two calendars to the 
end of the Year VIII. 

1. The era of the French counts from the foundation of the 
Republic, which occurred September 22, 1792, of the common 
era, the day when the sun arrived at the true equinox of au- 
tumn, in entering into the sign of Libra, at nine o'clock, eigh- 
teen minutes, thirty seconds, A. M., for the Observatory of 
Paris. 

2. The common era? is abolished for civil uses. 

3. Each year commences at midnight with the day on 
which the true equmox of autumn falls for the Observatory of 
Paris. 

4. The first year of the Republic commenced at midnight 
September 22, 1792, and ended at midnight, separating the 21st 
from the 22d of September, 1793. 

5. The second year commenced September 22, 1793, at 
midnight, the true equinox of autumn being reached that day 
for the Observatory of Paris at three o'clock, eleven minutes, 
thirty-eight seconds, P.M. 

6. The decree which fixed the commencement of the second 
year of the Republic at January i, 1793, is repealed; all docu- 
ments dated the second year of the RepubHc, passed within 
the current ist of January to September 2iiSt inclusive, are re- 
garded as belonging to the first year of the Republic. 

7. The year is divided into twelve equal months of thirty 
days each : after the twelve months follow five days in order to 
complete the ordinary year; these five days do not belong to 
any month. 



192 



REPUBLICAN CALENDAR DECREE 



8. Each month is divided into three equal parts of ten days 
each, which are called decades. 

g. The names of the days of the decade are : primidi, duodi, 
tridi, quartidi, quintidi, sextidi, septidi^ octidi, nonidi, decadi. 

The names of the months are, for the autumn, Vendemi- 
aire, Brumaire, F rim aire ; for the winter, Nivose, Pluviose, 
Ventose; for the spring, Germinal, Floreal, Prairial; for the 
summer, Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor. 

The last five days are called the Sans-Culottides. 

10. The ordinary year receives one day more, according as 
the position of the equinox requires it, in order to maintain 
the coincidence of the civil year with the celestial movements. 
This day, called Day of the Revolution, is placed at the end of 
the year, and forms the sixth of the Sans-Culottides. 

The period of four years, at the end of which this addition 
of a day is ordinarily necessary, is called the Franciade, in 
memory of the revolution, which, after four years of effort, 
has brought France to a republican government. 

The fourth year of the Franciade is called Sextile. 

11. The day from midnight to midnight is divided into ten 
parts or hours, each part into ten others, and so on to the 
smallest commensurable portion of its duration. The hund- 
redth part of the hour is called decimal minute ; the hundredth 
part of the minute is called second decimal. This article shall 
be in force for public documents only to count from i Vende- 
miaire. Year III of the Republic. 

12. The committee of public instruction is charged to 
cause the new calendar to be printed in different forms, with 
simple instructions in order to explain the principles and us- 
age of it. 

13. The calendar, as well as the instruction, shall be sent 
to the administrative bodies, the municipalities, the tribunals. 
the justices of the peace and all public officers, the armies, the 
popular societies and all colleges and schools. The provis- 
ional executive council shall cause it to be transmitted to the 
ministers, consuls, and other agents of France in foreign coun- 
tries. 

14. All public acts shall be dated according to Ihe new or- 
ganization of the year. 

15. The professors, schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, 



REPUBLICAN CALENDAR DECREE 



193 



fathers and mothers of families, and all those who direct the 
education of children shall be diligent in explaining to them 
the new calendar, in conformity with the instructions which 
are herewith annexed. 

16. Every four years, or every Franciade, upon the Day of 
the Revolution, republican games shall be celebrated, in mem- 
ory of the French Revolution, 

Instructions upon the era of the Republic and upon the 
division of the year, decreed by the National Convention, in 
order to be put at the end of the decree: 

First Part. 

Of the motives which have determined the decree. 

The French nation, oppressed and debased during a great 
many centuries by the most insolent despotism, has finally risen 
to a perception of its rights and the power to which its desti- 
nies call it. Each day for five years of a revolution, of which 
the annals of the world do not afford a parallel, it has been 
purging itself of all that defiles it or impedes its progress, 
which must be as majestic as rapid. It wishes that its regen- 
eration should be complete, in order that its years of liberty 
and glory may be distinguished even more by their duration in 
the history of peoples than its years of slavery and humiliation 
in the history of kings. 

Soon the arts are going to be called to new progress by the 
uniformity of weights and measures, whose exclusive and un- 
variable standard, taken in the measure even of the earth, will 
cause the disappearance of the diversity, incoherence, and in- 
exactitude which have existed up to the present in that part of 
the national industry. 

The arts and history, for which time is a necessary element, 
were also demanding a new measure of duration disengaged 
from all the errors which credulity and a superstitious routine 
have handed down to us from the centuries of ignorance. 

It is this new standard which the National Convention to- 
day presents to the French people; it must show at the 
same time both the impress of the intelligence of the nation 
and the character of our revolution by its exactitude, by its 
simplicity, and its disengagement from every opinion which 
may not be approved by reason and philosophy. 

7 



194 GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR 

. . . [The remainder of the instruction explains in 
the same vein the details of the calendar.! 



45. Organic Decree upon the Government of the Terror. 

December 4, 1793 (14 Frimaire, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, Yl, 
317-322. 

This document may be called the Constitution of the Reign of 
Terror. It co-ordin^-ted and amended a large number of earlier 
decrees by which the leading institutions of the revolutionary gov- 
ernment had been created or regulated, e.g., Nos. 33, 37, 43. A 
careful study of the document will bring out how the government 
was carried on by the Convention and the great Committee of 
Public Safety and its agents. The manner in which the elected 
local authorities were divested of all power and replaced by agents 
of the Committee of Public Safety c^-lls for particular notice. 

Refeeences. Stephens, French Rtvolution, II, 316-318 ; La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 197-199 ; Aulard, 
Revolution Francaise, 355-357. 

Section I. Dispatch and promulgation of the laws. 

I. The laws which concern the public interest or which 
are of general operation shall be printed separately in a num- 
bered Bulletin, which shall serve henceforth for their notifica- 
tion to the constituted authorities. This bulletin shall bear the 
title : Bulletin of the- Lazfs of the Republic. 

[The omitted articles relate to the preparation 
of the Bulletin.] 

8. This Bulletin shall be addressed directly day by day to 
all the constituted authorities and to all the public authorities 
charged either with supervising the execution or causing the 
application of the laws. This Bulletin shall be distributed to 
the members of the Convention. 

9. At each place the promulgation of the law shall be made, 
within twenty-four hours after its receipt, by a publication at 
the sound of the trumpet or the drum ; and the law shall be- 
come binding counting from the day of promulgation. 

10. Independently of this proclamation in each commune 
of the Republic, the laws shall be read to the citizens in a 
public place each decadi by the mayor, a municipal officer, or 
the president of the section. 



GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR 



195 



Section II. Execution of the laws. 

1. The National Convention is the sole centre of impulsion 
of the Government. 

2. All the constituted bodies and the public functionaries 
are put under the immediate supervision of the committee of 
public safety for the measures of government and of public 
safety, in conformity with the decree of the 19 Vendemiaire; 
and for all that relates to persons and to the general and inter- 
nal police, this special supervision belongs to the committee of 
general security of the Convention, in conformity with the de- 
cree of September 17th last : these two committees are required 
to render account of the results of their labors at the end of 
each month to the National Convention. Each member of 
these two committees is personally responsible for the fulfill- 
ment of this requirement. 

3. The execution of the laws is divided into surveillance 
and application. 

4. The active surveillance relative to the military laws 
and measures, to the administrative laws, civil and criminal, is 
delegated to the executive council, which shall render an ac- 
count thereof in writing every ten days to the committee of 
public safety, in order to inform it of delays and negligences 
in the execution of the civil and criminal laws, acts of gov- 
ernment and military and administrative measures, as well as 
the violations of these laws and measures, and the agents who 
make themselves guilty of these negligences and infractions. 

5. Each minister, moreover, is required to personally ren- 
der, every ten days, a detailed and summarized account of the 
operations of his department to the committee of public safety, 
and to denounce all the agents that it employs who may not 
have discharged their duties exactly. 

6. The surveillance of the execution of the revolutionary 
laws and the measures of government, of general security and 
public safety within the departments, is assigned exclusively 
to the districts, with the requirement to render exact account 
thereof every ten days to the committee of public safety for 
the measures of government and of public safety, and to the 
committee of surveillance of the Convention for that which 
concerns the general and internal police as wtell as individuals. 

7. The application of the military measures belongs to the 



u^ 



ig^ GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR 

generals and other agents attached to the service of the armies ; 
the appHcation of the mihtary laws belongs to the military 
tribunals ; that of the laws relative to the taxes, manufactures, 
highways, public canals, and surveillance over the national do- 
mains, belongs to the department administrations ; that of the 
civil and criminal laws to the tribunals, with the express re- 
quirement of rendering account thereof every ten days to the 
executive council. 

8. The application of the revolutionary laws and the rneas- 
ures of general security and public safety is confided to the 
rriunicipalities and the surveillance or revolutionary commit- 
tees, with the like requirement of rendering account every ten 
days of the execution of these laws in the territory of their dis- 
trict, as required of their immediate surveillance. 

9. Nevertheless, in order that at Paris the action of the 
police may encounter no impediment, the revolutionary com- 
mittees shall continue to correspond directly and without any 
intermediary with the committee of general security of the 
Convention, in conformity with the decree of September 17th 
last. 

10. All the constituted bodies shall send also, at the end 
of each month, the outline of their deliberations and of their 
correspondence to the authority which is especially charged 
by this decree with their immediate supervision. 

11. Every authority and every public functionary is ex- 
pressly forbidden to issue proclamations or to promulgate ex- 
tensive orders in limitation of or contrary to the literal sense 
of the law, under pretext of interpreting or supplementing it. 

The right to give the interpretation of decrees belongs 
to the Convention alone, and it alone can be looked to for 
that purpose. 

12. The intermediate authorities charged with surveillance 
over the execution and application of the laws are likewise for- 
bidden to pronounce any decision and to order the release of 
citizens under arrest. This right belongs exclusively to the 
National Convention, the committees of public safety and of 
general security, the representatives of the people in the de- 
partments and with the armies, and the tribunals in making 
application of the criminal and police laws. 

13. All the constituted authorities shall be sedentary and 



GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR 



197 



they can deliberate only in the usual place for their sittings, 
except in cases of superior force, with the sole exceptions of 
the justices of the peace and their assessors, and the criminal 
tribunals of the departments, in conformity with the laws 
which sanction their moving about. 

14. In the place of the district procureurs-syndics, the com- 
mune procureurs and their substitutes, who are abolished by 
this decree, there shall be national agents especially charged 
with requiring and seeking to obtain the execution of the 
laws, as well as to denounce the negligences that occur in this 
execution and the infractions which may be committed. These 
national agents are authorised to leave their stations and' to 
move about the circuit of their districts in order to be on the 
lookout and to satisfy themselves more thoroughly that the 
laws are exactly executed. 

15. The functions of the national agents shall be per- 
formed by the citizens who new occupy the places of district 
procureurs-:syndics, procureurs of the communes and their sub- 
stitutes, with the exception of those who have given occasion 
for their removal. 

16. The national agents attached to the districts, as well 
as every other public functionary personally charged by this 
decree either to require the execution of the law or to super- 
vise it more particularly, are required to maintain an accurate 
correspondence with the committees of public safety and of 
general security. These national agents shall write to the two 
committees every ten days, according to the requirements es- 
tablished by article 10 of this section, in order to attest the dili- 
gence displayed in the execution of each law and to give in- 
formation of delays and of negligent and double-dealing public 
functionaries, 

17. The national agents attached to the communes are re- 
quired to render the same account for the district of their 
jurisdiction, and the presidents of the surveillance and revo- 
lutionary committees shall carry on the same correspondence, 
as well with the committee of general security as with the 
district charged with surveillance over them. 

18. The committees of public safety and of general secur- 
ity are required to denounce to the Convention the national 
agents and every other public functionary personally charged 



iq8 government of the terror 

with the supervision of the application of the laws in order to 
cause them to be punished in conformity with the provisions 
set forth in the present decree. 

19. The number of the national agents, whether in the dis- 
tricts or in the communes, shall be equal to that of the dis- 
trict procureurs-syndics and their substitutes and the com- 
mune procureurs and their substitutes actually on duty. 

20. After the occurrence of the purification of the citizens 
summoned by this decree to discharge the functions of nation- 
al agents for the districts, each of these [districts] shall cause 
to be transmitted to the National Convention, within twenty- 
fcur hours aiter the purification, the names of those wlio shall 
have been retained or appointed in that place; and the list 
shall be read at the tribune, in order that the members of the 
Convention may explain about those they are able to recognize. 

21. The replacing of the national agents for the districts 
who shall be rejected shall be made provisionally by the Na- 
tional Convention. 

22. After the same purification shall have been effected in 
the communes, they shall send, within the same period, a sim- 
ilar list to the district which has jurisdiction, in order to be 
pubHcly proclaimed there. 

Section III. Competence of the constituted authorities- . 

1. The committee of public safety is especially charged 
with the conduct of the chief transactions in diplomacy and 
it shall deal directly with what springs from these same 
transactions. 

2. The representatives of the people shall correspond every 
ten days with the committee of pubhc safety. They can sus- 
pend and replace the generals only provisionally, with the re- 
quirement of informing the committee of public safety of it 
within twenty-four hours; they cannot counteract nor arrest 
the execution of the orders and measures of government taken 
by the committee of public safety; they shall conform them- 
selves in all their missions to the provisions of the decree of 6 
Frimaire. 

3. The functions of the executive council shall be de- 
termined according to the principles established in the present 
decree. 

4. The Convention reserves for itself the appointment of the 



GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR iqq 

generals-in-chief of the land and naval forces. As to the other 
general officers, the ministers of war and of the navy cannot 
make any promotion without having presented the list or the 
eippointment, with a statement of reasons, to the committee of 
public safety, in order to be accepted or rejected by it. These 
two ministers, likewise, cannot remove any of the militarv 
agents appointed provisionally by the representatives of the peo- 
ple sent to the armies, unless the proposal has been made in 
writing, with a statement of reasons, to the committee of pub- 
lic safety and the committee has accepted it. 

5. The department administrations remain especially charg- 
ed with the apportionment of the taxes among the districts, the 
establishment of manufactures, of highways and public canals, 
and surveillance over the national domains. All that relates 
to the revolutionary laws and to the measures of government 
and of public safety is no longer within their jurisdiction. In 
consequence, the hierarchy which placed the districts, the mu- 
nicipalities, or any other authority, under the dependence of 
the departments is suppressed for what concerns the revolu- 
tionary and military laws, and the measures of government, of 
public safety, and of general security. 

6. The general councils, the presidents, and the procureur- 
syndics-general are likewise abolished. The duties of the presi- 
dent shall be discharged by the members of the directory in 
turn and cannot continue more than one month. The president 
shall be charged with the correspondence and requisition and 
special surveillance in the portion of the execution confided to 
the department directories. 

7. The presidents and secretaries of the revolutionary and 
surveillance committees, likewise, shall be renewed every fifteen 
days, and can be re-elected only after an interval of one month. 

8. No citizen already employed in the service of the Re- 
public can exercise or assist in the exercise of an authority 
charged with the direct or indirect surveillance of his func- 
tions. 

9. Those who unite or assist in the cumulative exercise 
of similar authorities are required to make their choice within 
twenty-four hours after the publication of this decree. 

10. All the changes ordered by the present decree shall be 



200 GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR 

put in execution within three days, counting from the publica- 
tion of this decree. 

11. The rules of the formerly estabhshed order in which 
nothing has been changed by this decree shall be followed un- 
til it has been otherwise ordered. However, the functions of 
the district of Paris are assigned to the department, as having 
become incompatible by this new organization with the oper- 
ations of the municipahty. 

12. The power to send agents belongs exclusively to. the 
committee of public safety, the representatives of the people, 
the executive council, and the commission of subsistences. The 
object of their mission shall be expressed in precise terms in 
their commission. 

These missions shall be confined strictly to effecting the 
execution of the revolutionary and general safety measures, 
and the requisitions and orders issued by those who shall have 
appointed them. 

None of these commissioners can set aside the limitations 
of his commission ; and in no case is the delegation of powers 
permitted. 

13. The members of the executive council are required 
to present to the committee of public safety for its verification 
and acceptance the list of the agents whom they are about to 
send into the departments, to the armies, and abroad, and to 
accompany it with a statement of the reasons. 

14. The agents of the executive council and of the com- 
mission of subsistences are required to render exact account of 
their operations to the representatives of the people who are 
present in the same places. The powers of the agents ap- 
pointed by the representatives with the armies and in the de- 
partments shall expire when • the mission of the representa- 
tives shall be terminated or they shall have been recalled by 
decree. 

15. Every constituted authority, every public functionary, 
and every agent employed in the service of the Republic, is 
expressly forbidden to extend the exercise of his functions be- 
yond the territory which is assigned to him, to perform acts 
which are not within his competency, to encroach upon other 
authorities, to exceed the functions delegated to him, or to ar- 
rogate to himself those which are not confided to him. 



GOVEllNMENT OF THE TERROR 20T 

16. Every constituted authority is also expressly forbid- 
den to alter the essence of its organization by unions with other 
authorities, by delegates charged to form central assemblies, 
or by commissioners sent to other constituted authorities. All 
relations between public functionaries can take place only in 
writing. 

17. All congresses or central unions established either by 
the representatives of the people or by the popular societies, 
whatever the denomination they may bear, even that of central 
committee of surveillance or of central revolutionary or mili- 
tary commission, are revoked and expressly forbidden by this 
decree, as subversive of the unity of action of the Govern- 
ment and as tending to federalism; and those in existence shall 
dissolve themselves within twenty-four hours, counting from 
the publication of the present decree. 

18. Every revolutionary army other than that established 
by the Convention and common to the whole Republic is dis- 
banded by the present decree ; and all citizens incorporated in 
similar military institutions are enjoined to separate within 
twenty-four hours, counting from the publication of the present 
decree, under penalty of being regarded by the law as rebels 
and treated as such. 

19. Every armed force, whatever its institution or its de- 
nomination, and every leader of one is expressly forbidden to 
perform acts which belong exclusively to the constituted civil 
authorities, even domiciliary visits, without a written order is- 
sued by these authorities, which order shall be executed in the 
forms prescribed by the decrees. 

20. No armed force, tax, forced or voluntary loan can be 
levied except in virtue of a decree. The revolutionary taxes 
of the representatives of the people shall be put into operation 
only after having been approved by the Convention, except 
they be in enemy or rebel country. 

21. Every constituted authority is forbidden to dispose of 
the public funds, or to change the destination of them, without 
being authorised to do so by the Convention or by an express 
requisition of the representatives of the people, under penalty 
of being personally responsible tor them. 

Section IV. Reorganization and purification of the con- 
stituted authorities. 



202 GOVERNMENT OF THE TERROR 

y \. The committee of public safety is authorised to take all 
the necessary measures in order to proceed to the change of 
organization of the constituted authorities provided in the pres- 
ent decree. 

2. The representatives of the people are charged to secure 
and accelerate the execution of them; also to accomplish with- 
out delay the complete purification of all the. constituted author- 
ities and to render a special account of these two operations 
to the National Convention before the end of the next month. 
Section V. Of the penal law for public functionaries and 
other agents of the Republic. 

1. Members of the executive council guilty of negligence 
in the surveillance and execution of the laws for the part 
which is assigned to them, as well individually as collectively, 
shall be punished by deprivation of citizenship for six years and 
the confiscation of half of the goods of the condemned. 

2. Public functionaries on salary and charged personally 
by this decree to require and to follow up the execution of 
the laws, or to make the application of them, and to denounce 
negligences, infractions, functionaries and other guilty agents, 
placed under their surveillance, and who shall not have rigor- 
orously fulfilled these duties, shall be deprived of citizenship 
for five years and condemned for the same time to the con- 
fiscation of one-third of their incomes. 

3. The penalty for public functionaries not on salary, per- 
sonally charged with the same duties and guilty of the same 
offences, shall be deprivation of citizenship for four years. 

4. The penalty inflicted upon the members of the judicial, 
administrative, municipal, and revolutionary bodies, guilty of 
negligence in the surveillance, or the application of the laws, 
shall be, for the salaried functionaries, deprivation of citizen- 
ship for four years and a fine equal to one-fourth of the an- 
nual income of each condemned person, and for those who do 
not receive any salary, exclusion from the exercise of the 
rights of citizenship for three years. 

5. The general officers and all agents attached to the dif- 
ferent services of the army who are guilty of negligence in the 
surveillance, execution, and application of the operations which 
are entrusted to them, shall be punished with deprivation of 
the rights of citizenship for eight years and the confiscation of 
half of their goods. 



GOVERNMENT OP THE TERROR 203 

6. The commissioners and special agents appointed by the 
committees of public safety and of general security, the rep- 
resentatives of the people with the armies and in the depart- 
ments, the executive council and commission of subsistences, 
who are guilty of having exceeded the limits of their commis- 
sion, or of having neglected to execute it, or of not submit- 
ting to the provisions of the present decree, and especially to 
article 13 of section II in that which affects them, shall be 
punished by five years in prison. 

7. The minor agents of the Government, even those who 
have no public character, such as the heads of bureaus, secre- 
taries, clerks of the Convention, the executive council, the dif- 
ferent public administrations, every constituted authority, or 
any public functionary who has employes, shall be punished 
by suspension of citizenship for three j^ears and by a fine of 
cne-third of the income of the condemned person for the same 
space of time, for personal cause of all negligences, voluntary 
delays, or infractions committed in the execution of the laws, 
orders and measures of government, public safety and admin- 
istration with which they can be entrusted. 

8. Every infraction of the law, every betrayal of trust, 
every abuse of authority, committed by a public functionary or 
by any other principal or minor agent of the Government and 
of the civil and military administration who receives a salary, 
sjiall be punished by five years in prison and the confiscation 
of one-half of the goods of the condemned person; and for 
those not salaried and guilty of the same offences, the penalty 
shall be deprivation of citizenship for six years and the con- 
fiscation of one-fourth of their incomes for the same time. 

9. Every counterfeiter of the Bulletin of the Laws shall 
be punished by death. 

10. The penalties inflicted for delays and negligences in 
the dispatch, sending, and reception of the Bulletin of the 
Laws are, for the members of the commission for the dispatch 
of the laws and for the letter-post agents, condemnation to five 
years in prison, except in the case where the use of violence 
is legally proven. 

11. Public functionaries or any other agents subject to a 
joint responsibility, and who shall have notified the Convention 
of the lack of exact surveillance or of the non-execution of a 



204 



DECREE UPON SLAVERY 



law, within the space of fifteen days, shall be excepted from 
the penalties pronounced by this decree. 

12. The confiscations ordered by the preceding articles 
shall be turned into the public Treasury, after the indemnity 
due to a citizen injured by the non-execution or violation of 
a law has been deducted. 



46. Decree upon Slavery. 

February 4, 1794 (16 Pluviose, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, 
VII, 30. 

Of recent years historians liiave come to see that the work of 
the assemblies of the Revolution was much less the result of 
attachment to abstract principles than was formerly supposed. 
Nevertheless, much of their legislation was prompted by' what is 
vaguely called the revolutionary spirit. A prominent feature of 
that spirit was its passionate enthusiasm for the extension of 
human liberty. This decree is typical of many passed by the 
Convention at the prompting of that enthusiasm. Its immediate 
effects were unquestionably disastrous. 

Refeeence. Stephens, French Revolution, II, 468-471. 

The National Convention declares that negro slavery in 
all the colonies is abolished ; in consequence, it decrees that 
all men, without distinction of color, who are domiciled in 
the colonies are French citizens and shall enjoy all the rights 
guaranteed by the Constitution. 

It sends again to the committee of public safety to prepare 
for it immediately a report upon the measures to be taken in 
order to assure the execution of the present decree. 



47. Decree upon Assignats. 

May 10, 1794 (21 Floreal, Year II). Duvergier, Lois, VII, 162. 

This is a sort of organic law upon assignats co-ordinating and 
amending much earlier legislation on the subject. From it can 
be made up a tolerably complete list of the actions in relation to 
assignats which v/ere regarded as crimes. The penalties, for which 
it refers to previous decrees, were exceptionally severe. In many 
cases the penalty was death. 

Reference. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 



DECREE UPON ASSIGNATS 



205 



631-632, for some data in concise form upon tlie amount of assig- 
nats issued and their value at different dates. 

I. The provisions of the decrees of 7 and 30 Frimaire and 
14 Germinal relative to those accused of embezzlement of na- 
tional lands, of tampering [with assignats], of the mantifacture, 
distribution or introduction of false assignats or false money, 
shall likewise regulate the method of procedure against per- 
sons accused of having sold or purchased coin ; of having 
agreed upon or proposed different prices according to payment 
in coin or in assignats; of having pronounced discourses tend- 
ing to discredit the assignats; of having refused assignats in 
payment; of having given or received them at any loss what- 
ever, or of having demanded, before concluding or even en- 
tering upon a bargain, in what money the payment shall be 
effected. 



5. The above provisions shall be observed even with regard 
to those accused of offences previous to the publication of the 
present decree who shall not yet have been definitively tried. 

6. Articles 2 and 3 of the decree of April 11, 1793, shall 
continue to be executed against those who shall be convicted 
of having sold or purchased coin, or having given or sold as- 
signats at any loss whatever, of having agreed upon or pro- 
posed different prices according to payment in coin or assig- 
nats, of having demanded, before concluding or even entering 
upon a bargain, in what money the payment may be effected. 

7. The penalty provided by the decree of August i, 1793, in 
restraint of those who refuse assignats in payment shall con- 
tinue ; and nobody within the extent of the territory of the Re- 
public can shelter himself in this under the allegation that he 
is not a Frenchman. 

8. Every discourse tending to discredit the assignats shall 
likewise be punished in the same way. 

9. In conformity with article 4 of the decree of September 
5, 1793) there shall be occasion for the death penalty and for 
confiscation of goods, whenever the offences mentioned in the 
three preceding articles shall have been committed with the 
intention of assisting the undertakings of the internal or exter- 
nal enemies of the Republic. 



2o6 TREATIES WITH PRUSSIA 

48. Treaties with Prussia. 

Through the first of these agreements Prussia withdrew from 
the coalition against France. Document B is the complement of 
document A. Particular attention should be given to the arrange- 
ments in regard to the territory upon the left bank of the Rhine, 
the compensation for the dispossessed princes and the neutrality 
line in Germany. 

References. Gardiner, French Revolution, 238-241 ; FyfiEe, 
Modern Europe, I, 95-98 (Students' ed., 64-66) ; Von Sybel, French 
Revolution, IV, Book XI, Ch. in ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Hi^toire 
Generalc, VIII, 301-305 ; Sorel, L'E^irope et la Revolution Fran- 
caise, IV, 281-292. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48 ; Liane-Poole, His- 
torical Atlas of Modern Europe, XI-XII ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas Gen- 
eral, 40, 

A. Treaty of Basle. xA.pril 5, 1795 (16 Germinal, Year 
III). De Clercq, Traites, 1, 232-236. 

The French Republic and His Majesty, the King of Prus- 
sia, equally prompted by the desire to put an end to the war 
which divides them, by a firm peace between the two nations, 

1. There shall be peace, amity, and good understanding 
between the French Republic and the King of Prussia, con- 
sidered as such and in the capacity of Elector of Branden- 
burg and of Co-State of the Germanic Empire. 

2. Accordingly, all hostilities between the two Contract- 
ing Powers shall cease, dating from the ratification of the 
present treaty; and neither of themi, dating from the same 
time, shall furnish against the other, in any capacity or by 
any title whatsoever, any assistance or contingent, whether in 
men, in horses, provisions, money, munitions of war, or other- 
wise. 

3. Neither of the Contracting Powers shall grant passage 
over its territory to troops of the enemies of the other. 

4. The troops of the French Republic shall evacuate, 
within the fifteen days which follow the ratification of the 
present treaty, the parts of the Prussian States which they 
may occupy upon the right bank of the Rhine. . . , 

5 . The troops of the French Republic shall continue to 
occupy the part of the States of the King of Prussia situated 
upon the left bank of the Rhine. All definitive arrangement 



TREATIES WITH PRUSSIA 



207 



with respect to these provinces shall be put off until the gen- 
eral pacification between France and the German Empire. 



II. The French Republic shall accept the good offices of 
His Majesty the King of Prussia in favor of the Princes and 
States of the Germanic Empire who shall desire to enter 
directly into negotiation with it, and who, for that purpose, 
have already requested or shall yet request the intervention 
of the King. The French Republic, in order to give to the 
King of Prussia a signal proof of its desire to co-operate for 
the re-establishment of the former bonds of amity which have 
existed between the two countries, consents not to treat 
as hostile countries, during the space of three months after 
the ratification of the present treaty, those of the Princes and 
States of the said Emipre situated upon the right bank 
of the Rhine and in favor of whom the King shall interest 
himself. 



SEPARATE AND SECRET ARTICLES. 

2. If, at the general pacification between the Germanic 
Empire and France, the left bank of the Rhine remains with 
France, His Majesty the King of Prussia will come to an 
agreement with the French Republic upon the method of the 
cession of the Prussian States situated upon the left bank 
of this river, in exchange for such territorial indemnification 
as shall be agreed upon. In this case the King shall accept 
the guarantee which the Republic offers him for this indem- 
nification. 

3. In order to remove the theatre of war from the fron- 
tiers of the States of the King of Prussia, to preserve the tran- 
quility of the north of Germany, and to establish entire free- 
dom of commerce between that part of the Empire and France 
as before the war, the French Republic consents not to extend 
the operations of war, nor to cause its troops to enter, either 
by land or sea, into the Countries and States situated beyond 
the following line of demarcation : 



2o8 TREATIES WITH PRUSSIA 

[For this line see Putzger, Historischer Schul-Atlas, 24.] 
The French Republic will regard as neutral Countries and 
States all those which are situated beyond this line, on con- 
dition that His Majesty, the King of Prussia, undertakes to 
cause them to observe a strict neutrality, of which the first 
point shall be to recall their contingents and not to contract 
any new engagements which can authorise them to furnish 
troops to the Powers at war with France. The King charges 
himself with the guarantee that no troops hostile to France 
shall pass this line, nor set out from the countries which are 
here included, in order to fight the French armies ; and for 
this purpose the two Contracting Powers, after having planned 
together, shall agree upon the essential points for sufficient 
corps of observation to cause this neutrality to be respected. 

5. The French Republic, desiring to contribute in everything 
that depends upon it to the emancipation and well being of 
Prussia, with which it recognizes that it has a large identity 
of interests, consents in case France, at the future peace with 
the Germanic Empire, shall extend its limits to the Rhine and 
shall thus remain in possession of the States of the Due 
de Deux Fonts, to charge itself with the guarantee of the 
sum of 1,500,000 rixdalers loaned by the King to the Prince, 
after the indentures of this debt shall have been produced 
and its authenticity established. 



B. Secret Convention. August 5, 1796 (18 Thermidor, 
Year IV). De Clercq, Traites, I, 281-283. 

The French Republic and His Majesty the King of Prussia, 
prompted by an equal desire to see the baneful war which 
afflicts Europe cease shortly, and flattering themselves that 
the accomplishment of this salutary desire cannot be far dis- 
tant, have believed that they ought in advance to enter into 
amicable communications upon several matters relative to 
this pacification, which they hope is approaching. 

I. The intention of the two Contracting Powers being, first 
of all, to agree upon a territorial indemnification for the loss 
of the Prussian provinces upon the left bank of the Rhine, 



TREATY OP THE HAGEE 



209 



in case the said bank shall be ceded to France at the time 
of the peace with the Empire, . . . His Prussian 
Majesty, in order to give to the French Republic a proof of 
his feelings of amity, declares that when the question of the 
cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France shall arise^ 
he will not oppose it ; and, as in that case, in order to indem- 
nify the secular Princes who will lose by that arrangement,, 
the principle of secularizations becomes absolutely indispen- 
sable. His Majesty consents to accept the said principle and 
he shall receive as indemnity for the said Trans-Rhen- 
ish provinces, including the enclave of Sevenaer, which 
m this case will be ceded to France, the remainder of 
the bishopric of Munster, with the country of Recklinghausen, 
making deduction of the part mentioned above and on con- 
dition of their prior secularization; His M'ajesty still reserv- 
ing to himself to add to these what may be suitable to com- 
plete his indemnijfication, upon which matter the two Powers 
shall come to an agreement. 



49. Treaty of the Hague. 

May 16, 1795 (27 Floreal, Year III). De Clercq, Traites, I, 
236-242. 

This treaty illustrates the relationship between France and 
countries such as Holland which it revolutionized but did not 
Annex. 

Refekence. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale^ VIIT, 
803-304. 

The French Republic and ' the Republic of the United 
Provinces, equally animated by the desire to put an end to 
the war which has divided them, to repair the evils of it by 
a just distribution of reciprocal damages and advantages, and 
to unite themselves forever by an alliance founded upon the 
true interests of the two peoples, . . . 

I. The French Republic recognizes the Republic of the 
United Provinces as a free and independent Power and guar- 
antees to it its liberty, its independence, and the abolition of 



210 TREATY OF THE HAGUE 

the Stadtholderate decreed by the States-General and by each 
province on its own part. 

2. There shall be forever between the two Republics, 
the French and the United Provinces, peace, friendship, and 
good understanding. 

3. There shall be between the two Republics, until the 
end of the war, an ofifensive and defensive alliance against ail 
their enemies without distinction. 

4. This offensive and defensive alliance shall exist against 
England, whenever either of the two Republics shall be at 
war with her. 

5. Neither of the two Republics shall make peace with 
England, nor treat with her, without the co-operation and con- 
sent of the other. 

6. The French Republic shall not make peace with -any of 
the other coalesced Powers without including the Republic 
of the United Provinces. 

7. The Republic of the United Provinces shall furnish 
for its contingent during this campaign twelve line-of-battle 
ships and eighteen frigates, to be employed principally in the 
German Ocean, the North and Baltic Seas. These forces shall 
be increased for the next campaign, if one occurs. The 
Republic of the United Provinces shall furnish besides, if 
it is requested to do so, at least half of the land forces which 
it shall have on foot. 

8. The land and sea forces of the United Provinces — 
which shall be expressly intended to act with those of the 
French Republic — shall be under the orders of the French 
generals. 

[Articles 11-12 provide for the transfer to France 
of Flanders, Maestrecht, Venloo, and other districts in the 
vicinity of the river Meuse. By article 16 compensation of 
an equal extent of territory is to be provided at the general 
peace "out of the country conquered and retained by France."] 
17. The French Republic shall continue to occupy mili- 
tarily, during the present war only, but by a number of 
troops determined and agreed upon between the two nations, 
the places and positions which it will be useful to guard for 
the defence of the country. 



TREATY OP THE HAGUE 211 

20. The Republic of the United Provinces shall pay to 
the French Republic, as indemnity and damages for the ex- 
penses of the war, one hundred million florins current money 
of Holland, either in coin or in good foreign bills of ex- 
change, in conformity with the method of payment agreed 
upon between the two Republics. 

22. The Republic of the United Provinces pledges itself 
not to give asylum to any French Emigre; likewise the French 
RepubHc will not give asylum to Orangist Emigres, 



SEPARATE AND SECRET SOCIETIES. 

1. [Reduces the naval forces mentioned in number i of 
the open articles to three line-of-battle ships and four frigates.] 

2. The districts named in article I2 of the open treaty 
are reserved [by France] only in order to be united to the 
French Republic and not to other Powers. 

3. A month after the 'exchange of the ratifications of 
the present treaty, the French army in the United Prov- 
inces shall be reduced, in execution of article 17 of the open 
treaty, to 25,000 men, who shall be paid in coin, equipped and 
clothed by the Republic of the United Provinces upon the 
footing of war, in conformity with a rule which shall be 
agreed upon between the two governments. This army shall 
be left after the peace, in whole or in part, to the Republic 
of the United Provinces as long as she shall desire and it 
shall be maintained upon the footing that shall be determined 
for that purpose. 



5. The requisitions made directly to the States-General 
by the Representatives of the People before the signing of 
the present treaty shall be fulfilled in toto without delay. The 
repayment of this outlay- taken in its totality is reduced and 
fixed at the sum of ten million florins. 

6. The two Contracting Republics mutually guarantee the 
possessions which they had before this war in the two Indies 
and upon the coasts of Africa. The harbors of the Cape of 



212 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

Good Hope, Colombo and Trincomali shall be open to French 
vessels a,s well as to vessels of the United Provinces and upon 
the same terms. 



50. Constitution of the Year 111. 

August 22, 1795 (5 Fructidor, Year III). Duvergier, Lois, 
VIII, 223-242. 

This constitution was drawn up after the suppression of the 
insurrection ot Prairial. which had demanded that the Constitu- 
tion of the Year I should be put in operation. It was referred to 
the people, but coupled with the requirement that at leiast two- 
Ihirds of the members of the Convention must be elected to the 
two legislacive councils. This "decree of the two-thirds" led to 
the unsuccessful royalist insurrection of Vendemialre. The new 
constitution was then put into effect (October 26, 1795). It 
remained in operation until IS Brumaire. The general plan for 
the legislative and executive branches of the government calls for 
notice ; the former should be compared with those of the constitu- 
tions of 1791 and of the Year I (see Nos. 15 and 39), the latter 
with those of the same documents and of No. 45. The basis for 
suffrage and office-holding should also be compared with the earlier 
constitutions. 

Refekences. Gardiner, French Revolution, 247-250 ; Mathews, 
French Revolution, 277-280 ; Fyfife, Modern Europe, I, 100-lOS 
(Students' ed., GS-69) : Fournier, Naiyoleon, 54; Lanfrey, Napoleon, 
I, 48-50 ; Von Sybel, French Revolution, IV, 394-404 ; Lavisse and 
Rambiaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 227-230, 374-376 ; Aulard, Rev- 
olution Francaise, Part III, Ch. i. 

Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man 
AND Citizen. 
The French people proclaim in the presence of the Su- 
preme Being the following declaration of the rights of man 
and citizen. 

rights. 

1. The rights of man in society are liberty, eqtialit}^, se- 
curity, property. 

2. Liberty consists in the power to do that which does 
not injure the rights of others. 

3. Equality consists in this, that the law is the same for 
all, whether it protects or punishes. 

Equality does not admit of any distinction of birth nor of 
any inheritance of powers. 

4. Security results from the co-operation of all in order 
to assure the rights of each. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 213 

5. Property is the right to enjoy and to dispose of one's 
goods, income, and the fruit of one's labor and industry. 

6. The law is the general will expressed by the majority 
of the citizens or their representatives. 

7. That which is not forbidden by the law cannot be pre- 
vented. 

No one can be constrained to do that which it does not 
ordain. 

8. No one can be summoned into court, accused, arrested, 
or detained except in the cases determined by the law and 
according to the forms which it has prescribed. 

9. Those who incite, promote, sign, execute, or cause to be 
executed arbitrary acts are guilty and ought to be punished. 

10. Every severity which may not be necessary to secure 
the person of a prisoner ought to be severely repressed by the 
law. 

11. No one can be tried until after he has been heard or 
legally summoned. 

12. The law ought to decree only such penalties as are 
strictly necessary and proportionate to the ofifence. 

13. All treatment which increases the penalty fixed by the 
law is a crime. 

14. No law, either civil or criminal, can have retroactive 
effect. 

15. Every man can contract his time and his services, but 
he cannot sell himself nor be sold; his person is not an alien- 
able property. 

16. Every tax is established for the public utility; it 
ought to be apportioned among those liable for taxes accord- 
ing to their means. 

17. Sovereignty resides essentially in the totality of the 
citizens. 

18. No individual nor assembly of part of the citizens can 
assume the sovereignty. 

19. No one can without legal delegation exercise any 
authority or fill any public function. 

20. Each citizen has a legal right to participate directly 
or indirectly in the formation of the law and in the selection 
of the representatives of the people and of the public function- 
aries. 



214 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



21. The public offices cannot become the property of those 
who hold them. 

22. The social guarantee cannot exist if the division of 
powers is not established, if their limits are not fixed, and if 
the responsibility of the public functionaries is not assured. 

DUTIES. 

1. The declaration of rights contains the obligations of 
the legislators : the maintenance of society requires that those 
who compose it should both know and fulfill their duties. 

2. All the duties of man and citizen spring from these 
two principles graven by nature in every heart: 

Not to do to others that which you would not that they 
should do to you. 

Do continually for others the good that you would wish 
to receive from them. 

3. The obligations of each person to society consist in 
defending it, serving it, living in submission to the laws, and 
respecting those who are the agents of them. 

4. No one is a good citizen unless he is a good son, good 
father, good brother, good friend, good husband. 

5. No one is a virtuous man unless he is unreservedly 
and religiously an observer of the laws. 

6. The one who violates the laws openly declares himself 
in a state of war with society. 

7. The one who, without transgressing the laws, eludes 
them by stratagem or ingenuity wounds the interests of all ; 
he makes himself unworthy of their good will and their 
esteem. 

8. It is upon the maintenance of property that the culti- 
vation of the land, all the productions, all means of labor, 
and the whole social order rest. 

9. Every citizen owes his services to the fatherland and to 
the maintenance of liberty, equality, and property whenever 
the law summons him to defend them. 

Constitution, 

1. The French Republic is one and indivisible. 

2. The totality of the French citizens is the sovereign. 

TITLE I. 

3. France is divided into departments. 

These departments are . . . [list omitted]. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 215 

4. The boundaries of the departments can be changed or 
rectified by the Legislative Body; but in that case, the area 
of a department cannot exceed one hundred square myriame- 
ters (four hundred common square leagues). 

5. Each department is divided into cantons, each canton 
into communes. 

The cantons preserve their present circumscriptions. 

Their boundaries, nevertheless, can be changed or recti- 
fied by the Legislative Body; but in that case there shall not 
be more than one myriameter (two common leagues of two 
thousand five hundred and sixty-six toises each) of the com- 
mune the most remote from the head-town of the canton. 

6. The French colonies are integral parts of the Republic 
and are subject to the same constitutional law. 

7. They are divided into departments as follows: 

The island of Saint Domingo, of which the Legislative 
Body shall determine the division, into four departments at 
least and into six at most; 

Guadaloupe, Marie Galante, Desirade, the Saintes, and the 
French part of Saint Martin; 

Martinique ; 

French Guiana and Cayenne; 

Saint Lucia and Tabago ; 

The Isle of France, the Seychelles, Rodriguez, the settle- 
ments of Madagascar; 

The Island of Reunion ; 

The East Indies, Pondicherry, Chandernagor, Mahe, Kar- 
ikal and other settlements. 

TITLE II. -POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE CITIZENS. 

8. Every man born and residing in France, fully twenty- 
one years of age, who has had himself enrolled upon the civic 
register of his canton, who has lived for a year past upon the 
soil of the Republic, and who pays a direct land or personal 
property tax, is a French citizen. 

9. Frenchmen who shall have made one or more cam- 
paigns for the establishment of the Republic are citizens, with- 
out condition as to tax. 

10. A foreigner becomes a French citizen when, after hav- 
ing fully reached the age of twenty-one years and having de- 
clared an intention to settle in France, he has resided here for 
seven consecutive years ; provided he pays a direct tax, and In 



2i6 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

addition possesses real estate or an agricultural or commercial 
establishment, or has married a French woman. 

11. Only French citizens can vote in the primary assemb- 
lies and be summoned to the offices established by the con- 
stitution. 

12. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is lost : 
1st. By naturalization m a foreign country; 

2d. By affiliation with any foreign corporation which may 
imply distinctions of birth or which may demand religious 
vows ; 

3d. By the acceptance of positions or pensions offered by a 
foreign government ; 

4th. By condemnation to afflictive or infamous penalties un- 
til rehabilitation; 

13. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is suspended : 
1st. By judicial inhibition because of delirium, insanity, or 

imbecilit}'- ; 

2d. By the condition of bankruptcy or by the direct inheri- 
tance by gratuitous title of the whole or of part of the suc- 
cession of a bankrupt ; 

3d. By the condition of domestice service for wages either 
for a person or a household ; 

4th. By the condition of accusation; 

5th. By a judgment of contempt of court, as long as the 
judgment is not annuled. 

14. The exercise of the rights of citizenship is neither lost 
nor suspended except in the cases enumerated in the two pre- 
ceding articles. 

15. Every citizen who shall have resided for seven con- 
secutive years outside of the territory of the Republic, without 
commission or authorisation given in the name of the Repub- 
lic, is reputed a foreigner; he becomes a French citizen 
again only after having conformed to the conditions pre- 
scribed in article 10. 

16. Young men cannot be enrolled upon the civic register 
unless they prove that they know how to read and write and 
to follow a mechanical calling. 

The manual operations of agriculture belong to the me- 
chanical callings. 

This article shall have effect only dating from the Year 
XII of the Republic. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 217 

TITLE III. PRIMARY ASSEMBLIES. 

17. The primary assemblies are composed of the citizens 
residing in the same canton. 

The domicile requisite for voting in these assemblies is 
acquired only by residence for one year and is lost only by a 
year of absence. 

18. No one can act by proxy in the primary assemblies or 
vote for the same matter in more than one of these assemblies. 

19. There is at least one primary assembly per canton. 
When there are several of them each is composed of four 

hundred citizens at least, of nine hundred at most. 

These numbers include the citizens, present or absent, hav- 
ing the right to vote there. 

20. The primary assemblies constitute themselves provis- 
ionally under the presidency of the most aged ; the youngest 
discharges provisionally the duties of secretary. 

21. They are definitively constituted through the selection 
by ballot of a president, secretary, and three tellers. 

22. If difficulties arise over the qualifications requisite for 
voting the assembly decides provisionally, reserving recourse 
to the civil tribunal of the department. 

23. In every other case the Legislative Body alone pro- 
nounces upon the validity of the operations of the primary 
assemblies. 

24. No one can appear in arms in the primary as- 
semblies. 

25. Their policing belongs to themselves. 

26. The primary assemblies meet: 

I St. In order to accept or reject changes in the constitu- 
ticnal act proposed by the assemblies of revision ; 

2d. To conduct the elections which belong to them accord- 
ing to the constitutional act. 

2']. They meet with perfect right upon i Germinal of each 
year and proceed, according as there is occasion, to the se- 
lection : 

1st. Of the members of the electoral assembly; 

2d. The justice of the peace and his assessors; 

3d. The president of the municipal administration of the 
canton, or the municipal officers in the communes of above five 
thousand inhabitants. 



2i8 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

28. Immediately after these elections, in the communes of 
under five thousand inhabitants, the communal assemblies are 
held, which elect the agents of each commune and their as- 
sistants. 

29. Whatever is done in a primary or communal assembly 
that is beyond the purpose of its convocation and contrary to 
the forms settled by the constitution is null. 

30. The assemblies, whether primary or communal, carry 
on no other elections than those which are assigned to_ them 
by the constitutional act. 

31. All the elections are carried on by secret ballot. . 

S2. Every citizen who is legally convicted of having sold 
or purchased a vote is excluded from the primary and com- 
munal assemblies and from every public office for twenty 
years ; in case of repetition, forever. 

TITLE IV. ELECTORAL ASSEMBLIES. 

33. Each primary assembly selects one elector by reason 
of two hundred citizens, present or absent, having the right to 
vote in the said assembly. For citizens up to the number of 
three hundred inclusive only one elector is chosen. 

Two of them are selected for three hundred and one up to 
five hundred; 

Three for five hundred and one up to seven hundred ; 
Four for seven hundred and one up to nine hundred. 

34. The members of the electoral assemblies are selected 
each year and can be re-elected only after an interval of two 
years. 

35. No one can be chosen elector unless he is twenty-five 
years of age and unites to the qualifications necessary for the 
exercise of the rights of French citizenship one of the fol- 
lowing conditions, to wit : 

In the communes of above six thousand inhabitants, that of 
being proprietor or usufructuary of a property valued at an 
income equal to the local value of two hundred days of labor, 
or that of being occupant either of a habitation valued at an 
income equal to the value of one hundred and fifty days of 
labor, or of a rural property valued at two hundred daj^s of 
labor ; 

In the communes of under six thousand inhabitants, that of 
being proprietor or usufructuary of a property valued at an 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



219 



income equal to the local value of one hundred and fifty days 
of labor, or that of being occupant either of a habitation val- 
ued at an income equal to the value of one hundred days of 
labor or of rural property valued at one hundred days of labor ; 

And in the country that of being proprietor or usufruc- 
tuary of a property valued at an income equal to the local val- 
ue of one hundred and fifty days of labor, or that of being 
the farmer or metayer of properties appraised at the value of 
two hundred days of labor. 

With respect to those who shall be at the same time pro- 
prietors or usufructuaries for one part and occupants, farmers, 
or metayers for the other, their properties by these different 
titles shall be cumulated to the amount necessary to estab- 
lish their eligibility. 

36. The electoral assembly of each department meets on 
20 Germinal of each year and concludes, in a single session of 
ten days at most and without power to adjourn, all the elec- 
tions which are to occur; after that it is dissolved with per- 
fect right. 

2)7. The electoral assemblies cannot busy themselves with 
any matter foreign to the elections with which they are 
charged; they cannot send or receive any address, any peti- 
tion, or any deputation. 

38. The electoral assemblies cannot correspond among 
themselves. 

39. No citizen, having been a member of an electoral as- 
sembly, can take the title of elector or meet in that capacity 
with those who have been with him members of that same 
assembly. 

Infraction of the present article is an attempt against the 
general security. 

40. Articles 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and 32 of the 
preceding title, upon the primary assemblies, are common to 
the electoral assemblies. 

41. The electoral assemblies elect according as there Is 
occasion : 

1st. The members of the Legislative Body; to wit, the 
members of the Council of Ancients, then the members of the 
Council of the Five Hundred ; 

2d. The members of the tribunal of cassation; 



220 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

3d. The high jurors; 
4th, The department administrators ; 

5th. The president, public accuser, and recorder of the 
criminal tribunal ; 

6th. The judges of the civil tribunals. 

42. When a citizen is elected by the electoral assemblies 
in order to replace a deceased, resigned, or dismissed function- 
ary, this citizen is elected only for the time which remained to 
the replaced functionary. 

43. The commissioner of the Executive Directory near the 
administration of each department is required, under penalty 
of dismissal, to inform the Directory of the opening and clos- 
ing of the electoral assemblies : this commissioner can neither 
stop nor suspend the operations, nor enter into the place of 
the sittings; but he has the right to call for communication 
of the minutes of each session within the twenty-four hours 
which follow it, and he is required to inform the Directory 
of the infractions which may be made of the constitutional 
act. 

In all cases the Legislative Body alone passes upon the 
validity of the operations of the electoral assemblies. 

TITLE V. LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

General Provisions. 

44. The Legislative Body is composed of a Council of 
Ancients and a Council of the Five Hundred. 

45. In no case can the Legislative Body delegate to one or 
several of its members, nor to anybody whomsoever, any of the 
functions which are assigned to it by the present constitution. 

46. It cannot itself or by delegates discharge the executive 
or the judicial power. 

47. The position of member of the Legislative Body and 
the discharge of any other public function, except that of 
archivist of the Republic, are incompatible. 

48. The law determines the method of permanently or 
temporarily replacing the public functionaries who have been 
elected members of the Legislative Body. 

49. Each department contributes, only in proportion to its 
population, to the selection of the members of the Council of 
Ancients and of the members of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 22 L 

50. Every ten years the Legislative Body, according to the 
lists of population which are sent to it, determines the number 
of members of each council which each department shall 
furnish, 

51. No change can be made in this apportionment during 
this interval. 

52. The members of the Legislative Body are not repre- 
sentatives of the department which has selected them, but of 
the entire nation, and no instructions can be given to them. 

53. Both Councils are renewed every year by a third. 

54. The members retiring after three years can be im- 
mediately re-elected for the three following years, after which 
there must be an interval of two years before they can be 
elected again. 

55. No one in an}^ case can be a member of the Legisla- 
tive Body during more than six consecutive years. 

56. If through extraordinary circumstances either of the 
two Councils finds itself reduced to less than two-thirds of 
its members, it gives notice thereof to the Executive Directory, 
which is required to convoke without delay the primary as- 
semblies of the departments, which have members of the 
Legislative Body to replace through the effect of these circum- 
stances : the primary assemblies immediately select the elec- 
tors, who proceed to the necessary replacements, 

57. The newly elected members for both of the Councils 
meet upon i Prairial of each year in the commune which has 
been indicated by the preceding Legislative Body, or in the 
same commune where it has held its last sittings, if it has not 
designated another. 

58. The two Councils always reside in the same commune. 

59. The Legislative Body is permanent ; nevertheless, it 
can adjourn for periods which it designates. 

60. In no case can the two Councils meet in a single hall. 

61. Neither in the Council of Ancients nor in the Council 
of the Five Hundred can the functions of president and sec- 
retary exceed the duration of one month. 

62. The two Councils respectively have the right of police 
in the place of their sittings and in the environs which they 
have determined. 

63. They have respectively the right of police over their 



222 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

members ; but they cannot pronounce any penalty more severe 
than censure, arrests for eight days, or imprisonment for 
three. 

64. The sittings of both Councils are public: the specta- 
tors cannot exceed in number half of the members of each 
Council respectively. 

The minutes of the sittings are printed. 

65. Every decision is taken by rising and sitting; in case of 
doubt, the roll call is employed, but in that case the votes are 
secret. 

66. Upon the request of one hundred of its members each 
Council can form itself into secret committee of the whole, 
but only in order to discuss, not to resolve. 

67. Neither of these Councils can create any permanent 
committee within its own body. 

But each Council has the power, when a matter seems to 
it susceptible of a preparatory examination, to appoint from 
among its members a special commission, which confines itself 
exclusively to the mxatter that led to its formation. 

This commission is dissolved as soon as the Council has 
legislated upon the matter with which it was charged. 

68. The members of the Legislative Body receive an an- 
nual compensation ; it is fixed for both Councils at the value 
of three thousand myriagrams of wheat (six hundred and 
thirty quintals, thirty-two livres). 

69. The Executive Directory cannot cause any body of 
troops to pass or to sojourn within six myriameters (twelve 
common leagues) of the commune where the Legislative Body 
is holding its sittings, except upon its requisition or with its 
authorisation. 

70. There is near the Legislative Body a guard of citizens, 
taken from the reserve National Guard of all the departments 
and chosen by their brothers in arms. 

This guard cannot be less than fifteen hundred men in 
active service. 

71. The Legislative Body fixes the method of this service 
and its duration. 

72. The Legislative Body is not to be present at any public 
ceremony nor does it send deputations to them. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



223 



Council of the Five Hundred. 
^2,- The Council of the Five Hundred is unalterably fixed 
at that number. 

74. In order to be elected a member of the Council of the 
Five Hundred it is necessary to be fully thirty years of age 
and to have been domiciled upon the soil of France for the 
ten years which shall have immediately preceded the election. 

The condition of thirty years of age shall not be required 
before the seventh year of the Republic : until that date the 
age of twenty-five shall be sufficient. 

75. The Council of the Five Hundred cannot deliberate 
unless the sitting is composed of at least two hundred mem- 
bers. 

76. The proposal of the laws belongs exclusively to the 
Council of the Five Hundred. 

'J']. No proposition can be considered or decided upon in 
the Council of the Five Hundred except in observance of the 
following forms. 

There shall be three readings of the proposal ; the interval 
between twO' of these readings cannot be less than ten days. 

The discussion is open after each reading; nevertheless, 
the Council of the Five Hundred can declare that there is cause 
for adjournment or that there is no occasion for consideration. 

Every proposal shall be printed and distributed two days 
before the second reading. 

After the third reading the Council of the Five Hundred 
decides whether or not there is cause for adjournment. 

78. No proposition, which after having been submitted to 
discussion has been definitively rejected after the third reading, 
can be renewed until after a year has elapsed. 

79. The propositions adopted by the Council of the Five 
Hundred are called Resolutions. 

80. The preamble of every resolution states : 

ist. The dates of the sittings upon which the three readings 
0/ the proposition shall have occurred ; 

2d. The act by which after the third reading it has been de- 
clared that there was not cause for adjournment. 

81. The propositions recognized as urgent by a previous 
declaration of the Council of the Five Hundred are exempt 
from the forms prescribed by article yy. 



224 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

This declaration states the motives for urgency and men- 
tion shall he made of them in the preamble of the resolution. 

Council of Ancients. 

82. The Council of Ancients is composed of two hundred 
ana fifty members. 

83. No one can be elected a member of the Council of 
Ancients, 

Unless he is fully forty years of age ; 

Unless, moreover, he is married or a widower ; 

And unless he has been domiciled upon the soil of the 
Republic for the fifteen years which shall have immediately 
preceded the election, 

84. The condition of domicile required by the pre- 
ceding article and that prescribed by article 74 do not 
affect the citizens who are away from the soil of the Repub- 
lic upon a mission of the Government. 

85. The Council of Ancients cannot deliberate unless the 
sitting is composed of at least one hundred and twenty-six 
members. 

86. It belongs exclusively to the Council of Ancients 
to approve or reject the resolutions of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 

87. As soon as a resolution of the Council of the Five 
Hundred has reached the Council of Ancients the president 
directs the reading of the preamble. 

88. The Council of Ancients refuses to approve the reso- 
lutions of the Council of the Five Hundred which have not 
been taken in the forms prescribed by the Constitution. 

89. If the proposition has been declared urgent by the 
Council of the Five Hundred, the Council of Ancients decides 
to approve or reject the act of urgency. 

90. If the Council of Ancients rejects the act of urgency, 
it does not pass upon the matter of the resolution. 

91. If the resolution is not preceded by an act of urgency, 
there shall be three readings of it : the interval between two 
of these readings cannot be less than five days. 

The debate is open after each reading. 
Every resolution is printed and distributed at least two 
days before the second reading. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



225 



92. The resolutions of the Council of the Five Hundred 
adopted by the Council of Ancients are called Laws. 

93. The preamble of the laws states the dates of the sit- 
tings of the Council of Ancients upon which the three read- 
ings have occurred. 

94. The decree by which the Council of Ancients recog- 
nizes the urgency of a law is adduced and mentioned in the 
preamble of that law. 

95. The propoisition for a law made by the Council of the 
Five Hundred embraces all the articles of a single project: 
the Council shall reject them all or approve them in their en- 
tirety. 

96. The approval of the Council of Ancients is expressed 
upon each proposition of law by this formula, signed by the 
president and the secretaries : The Council of Ancients ap- 
proves . 

97. The refusal to adopt because of the omission of the 
forms indicated in article yy is expressed by this formula, 
signed by the president and the secretaries : The Constitution 
annuls ... 

98. The refusal to approve the principle of the law is ex- 
pressed by this formula, .signed by the president and the secre- 
taries : The Council of Ancients cannot adopt . 

99. In the case of the preceding article, the rejected pro- 
ject of law cannot be again presented by the Council of the 
Five Hundred until after a year has elapsed. 

100. The Council of the Five Hundred, nevertheless, can 
present at any date whatsoever a project of law which con- 
tains articles included in a project which has been rejected. 

loi. The Council of Ancients within the day sends the 
laws which it has adopted to the Council of the Five Hundred 
as well as to the Executive Directory. 

102. The Council of Ancients can change the residence 
of the Legislative Body; it indicates in this case a new place 
and the date at which the two Councils are required to repair 
thence. 

The decree of the Council of Ancients upon this subject is 
irrevocable. 

103. Upon the day of this decree neither of the Councils 
can deliberate any further in the commune where they have 
until then resided. 



226 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

The members who may continue their functions there make 
themselves guilty of an attempt against the security of the 
Republic. 

104. The members of the Executive Directory who may 
retard or refuse to seal, promulgate, and dispatch the decree 
of transfer of the Legislative Body are guilty of the same 
offence. 

105. If, within the twenty days after that fixed by the 
Council of Ancients, the majority of each of the two Councils 
have not made known to the Republic their arrival at the new 
place indicated or their meeting in some othei place, the de- 
partment administrators, or in their default, the department 
civil tribunals, convoke the primary assemblies in order to 
select the electors who proceed forthwith to the formation of a 
new Legislative Body by the election of two hundred and fifty 
deputies for tne Council of Ancients and five hundred for the 
other Council. 

106. The department administrators, who, in the case of 
the preceding article may be remiss in convoking the primary 
assemblies, make themselves guilty of high treason and of an 
attempt against the security of the Republic. 

107. All citizens who interpose obstacles to the convoca- 
tion of the primary and electoral assemblies in the case of 
article 106 are guilty of the same offence. 

108. The members of the new Legislative Body assemble 
in the place where the Council of Ancients had transferred its 
sittings. 

If they cannot meet in that place, in whatever place there 
is a majority there is the Legislative Body. 

109. Except in the case of article 102 no proposition of 
law can originate in the Council of Ancients. 

Of the Guarant}^ of the Members of the Legislative Body. 

no. The citizens who are or have been members of the 
Legislative Body cannot be questioned, accused, or tried at any 
time for what they have said or written in the discharge of 
their functions. 

III. The members of the Legislative Body from the mo- 
ment of their selection to the thirtieth day after the expira- 
tion of their functions cannot be put on trial except in the 
forms prescribed by the articles that follow. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



227 



112. For icriminal acts they can be seized in the very act: 
but notice thereof is given without delay to the Legislative 
Body and the prosecution, shall be continued only after the 
Council of the Five Hundred shall have proposed proceed- 
ing with ithe trial and the Council of Ancients shall have de- 
creed it. 

113. Outside of the case of flagrante delicto the members 
of the Legislative Body cannot be brought before the police 
officers nor put in a state of arrest until after the Council of 
the Five Hundred has proposed proceeding with the trial and 
the Council of Ancients has decreed it. 

i'i4. In the case of the two preceding articles a member of 
the Legislative Body cannot be brought before any other tri- 
bunal than the High Court of Justice. 

115. They are brought before the same court for acts of 
treason, squandering, maneuvers to overthrow the Constitu- 
tion, and attempts against the internal security of the Re- 
public. 

116. No denunciation against a member of the Legislative 
Body can give rise to a prosecution unless it is reduced to 
writing, signed, and addressed to the Council of the Five Hun- 
dred. 

117. If, after having deliberated in the form prescribed 
by article yy, the Council of the Five Hundred accepts the 
denunciation, it so declares in these terms : 

The denunciation against . . . for the act of . . . 
dated . . . signed . . . is accepted. 

118. The accused is then summoned: he has a period of 
three full days in which to make his appearance, and when he 
appears, he is heard in the interior of the place of the sittings 
of the Council of the Five Hundred. 

119. Whether the accused be present or not, the Council 
of the Five Hundred declares after this period whether there 
is occasion or not for the examination of his conduct. 

120. If the Council of the Five Hundred declares that 
there is occasion for an examination, the accused is sum- 
moned by the Council of Ancients : he has a period of two 
full days in which to appear ; and if he appears, he is heard 
in the interior of the place of the sittings of the Council of 
Ancients. 



228 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

121. Whether the accused be present or not, the Council 
of Ancients, after this period, and after having dehberated in 
the forms prescribed by article 91, pronounces the accusation 
if there is occasion and sends the accused before the High 
Court of Justice, which is required to proceed with the trial 
without any delay. 

122. All discussion in either Council relative to complaint 
against or accusation of a member of the Legislative Body 
takes place in committee of the whole. 

Every decision upon the same matters is taken by roll call 
and secret ballot. 

123. Accusation pronounced against a member of the 
Legislative Body entails suspension. 

If he is acquitted by the judgment of the High Court of 
Justice he resumes his functions. 

Relations of the Two Councils between Themselves. 

124. When the two Councils are definitively constituted 
they give notice thereof reciprocally by a messenger of state. 

125. Each Council appoints four messengers of state for 
its service. 

126. They carry the laws and acts of the Legislative Body 
to each of the Councils and to the Executive Directory; 
they have entrance for that purpose into the place of the sit- 
tings of the Executive Directory. 

They go preceded by two ushers. 

127. Neither of the two Councils can adjourn beyond 
five days without the consent of the other. 

Promulgatioii of the Laws. 

128. The Executive Directory causes the laws and other 
acts of the Legislative Body to be sealed and published within 
two days after their reception. 

129. It causes to be sealed and promulgated, within a day, 
the laws and acts of the Legislative Body which are preceded 
by a decree of urgency. 

130. The publication of the law and the acts of the Legis- 
lative Body is prescribed in the following form : 

''In the name of the French Republic (lazv) or (act of the 
Legislative Body) .. .the Directory orders that the above law or 
legislative act shall be published, executed, and that it shall be 
provided zvitJi the seal of the Republic." 



CONSTITUTION OP THE YEAR III 229 

1.31. Laws whose preambles do not attest the observation 
of the forms prescribed by articles ']'] and 91 cannot be pro- 
mulgated by the Executive Directory, and its responsibility 
in this respect lasts six years. 

Laws are excepted for which the act of urgency has been 
approved by the Council of Ancients. 

TITLE VI. EXECUTIVE POWER. 

132. The executive power is delegated to a Directory of 
five members appointed by the Legislative Body performing 
then the functions of an electoral body in the name of the 
nation. 

133. The Council of the Five Hundred form by secret 
ballot a list of ten times the number of the members of the 
Directory to be appointed and present it to the Council of 
Ancients, who choose, also by secret ballot, within this list. 

134. The members of the Directory shall be at least forty 
years of age. 

135. They can be taken only from among the citizens who 
have been members of the Legislative Body or ministers. 

The provision of the present article shall be observed only 
commencing with the ninth year of the Republic. 

136. Counting from the first day of the Year V. of the 
Republic the members of the Legislative Body cannot be elect- 
ed members of the Directory or ministers, either during the 
continuance of their legislative functions or during the first 
year after the expirations of these same functions. 

137. The Directory is renewed in part by the election of 
one new member each year. 

During the first four years the lot shall decide upon the or- 
der of retirement of those who shall have been appointed for 
the first time. 

138. None of the retiring members can be re-elected until 
after an interval of five years. 

139. The ancestor and the descendant in the direct line, 
brothers, uncle and nephew, cousins of the first degree, and 
those related by marriage in these various degrees, can- 
not be at the same time members of the Directory nor can 
they succeed them until after an interval of five years. 

140. In case of the removal of one of the members of the 
Directory by death, resignation, or otherwise, his successor is 



230 



CONSTITUTION OP THE YEAR III 



elected by the Legislative Body within ten days at the latest. 

The Council of the Five Hundred is required to propose 
the candidates within the first five days and the Council of 
Ancients shall complete the election within the last five days. 

The new member is elected only for the term of office 
which remained to the one whom he replaces. 

Nevertheless, if this time does not exceed six months, the 
one who is elected remains in office until the end of the fifth 
year following. 

.141. Each member of the Directory presides over it in his 
turn for three months only. 

The president has the signature and the keeping of the 
seal. 

The laws and the acts of the Legislative Body are ad- 
dressed to the Directory in the person of its president. 

142. The Executive Directory cannot deliberate if there 
are not at least three members present. 

143. It chooses for itself outside of its own body a secre- 
tary who countersigns the despatches and records the transac- 
tions in a register where each member has the right to cause 
to be inscribed his opinion with his motives. 

The Directory can, when it thinks expedient, deliberate 
without the presence of its secretary; in this case the trans- 
actions are recorded in a special register by one of the mem- 
bers of the Directory. 

144. The Directory provides, according to the laws, for the 
external and internal security of the Republic. 

It can issue proclamations in conformity with the laws and 
for their execution. 

It disposes of the armed force, without the Directory col- 
lectively or any of its members being able in any case to com- 
mand them during the time of their functions or during the 
two years which immediately follow the expiration of these 
same functions. 

145. If the Directory is informed that some conspiracy is 
being plotted against the external or internal security of the 
State, it can issue warrants of apprehension and arrest against 
those who are presumed to be the authors or the accomplices 
thereof; it can question them: but it is required under the 
penalties provided for the crime of arbitrary imprisonment to 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 23I 

send them into the presence of the police officer within the 
period of two days in order to proceed according to the laws. 

146. The Directory appoints the Generals-m-Chief ; it can- 
not choose them from among the blood or marriage relations 
of its members within the degrees expressed in article 139. 

147. It supervises and secures the execution of the laws in 
the administrations and tribunals by commissioners of its ap- 
pointment. 

148. It appoints, from outside of its own body, the min- 
isters and dismisses them when it thinks expedient. 

It cannot choose those under the age of thirty years, nor 
from among the blood or marriage relations of its members 
within the degrees set forth in article 139. 

149. The ministers correspond directly with the author- 
ities who are subordinate to them. 

150. The Legislative Body determines the prerogatives 
and the number of the ministers. 

This number is from six at the least to eight at the most. 

151. The ministers do not form a council. 

152. The ministers are individually responsible for the 
non-execution of the laws as well as for the non-execution of 
the orders of the Directory. 

153. The Directory appoints the receiver jf direct taxes 
of each department. 

154. It appoints the superintendents in chief for the ad- 
ministrations of the indirect taxes and for the administration 
of the national lands. 

155. All the public functionaries in the French colonies, 
except the departments of the islands of France and Reunion, 
shall be appointed by the Directory until the peace. 

156. The Legislative Body can authorise the Directory 
to send into any of the French colonies, according to the need 
of the case, one or several special agents appointed by it for 
a limited time. 

The special agents shall exercise the same functions as the 
Directory and shall be subordinate to it. 

157. No member of the Directory can leave the soil of the 
Republic until two years after the cessation of his functions. 

158. He is required during that interval to furnish to the 
Legislative Body proofs of his residence. 

Article 112 and the following to article 123 Inclusive, rel- 



232 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



ative to the guarantee of the Legislative Body, are common 
to the members of the Directory. 

159. In the case where more than two of the Directory 
may be put on trial the Legislative Body shall provide in the 
usual forms for their provisional replacement during the trial. 

160. Outside of the cases of articles 119 and 120 the Di- 
rectory or any of its members cannot be summoned by the 
Council of the Five Hundred nor by the Council of Ancients. 

161. The reports and explanations called for by either of 
the Councils are furnished in writing. 

162. The Directory is required to present to both Councils 
each year in writing a statement of the expenses, the situ- 
ation of the finances, and the list of the existing pensions, as 
well as a project for those which it believes ought to be estab- 
lished. 

It shall indicate the abuses which have come to its knowl- 
edge. 

163. The Directory can at any time in writing invite the 
Council of the Five Hundred to take a subject into consider- 
ation ; it can propose measures to it, but not drawn up in the 
form of projects of law. 

164. No member of the Directory can be absent more 
than five days nor go away beyond four myriameters (eight 
common leagues) from the place of the residence of the Di- 
rectory without the authorisation of the Legislative Bod}^ 

165. The members of the Directory, when engaged in the 
exercise of their functions, whether upon the outside or with- 
in the interior of their residences, can appear only in the 
costume which is appropriate for them. 

166. The Directory has its guard, paid and clothed at the 
expense of the Republic, composed of one hundred and twen- 
ty infantry and one hundred and twenty cavalry. 

167. The Directory is accompanied by its guard in the 
public ceremonies and processions, where it has always the 
first rank. 

168. Each member of the Directory when abroad is ac- 
companied by two guards. 

169. Every army post owes to the Directory and to each 
of its members the higher military honors. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 233 

170. The Directory has four messengers of state whom it 
appoints and whom it can dismiss. 

They carry to the two legislative Councils the letters and 
memoirs of the Directory; they have entrance for that purpose 
into the place of the sittings of the legislative Councils. 

They go preceded by two ushers. 

171. The Directory resides in the same commune as the 
Legislative Body. 

172. The members of the Directory are lodged at the ex- 
pense of the Republic and in a single edifice. 

173. The compensation of each of them for each year is 
fixed at the value of fifty thousand myriagrammes of wheat 
(ten thousand two hundred and twenty-two quintals). 

TITLE VII. ADMINISTRATIVE AND MUNICIPAL BODIES. 

174. There is in each department a central administration 
and in each canton at least one municipal administration. 

175. Every member of a department or municipal ad- 
ministration shall be at least twenty-five years of age. 

176. The ancestor and the descendant in the direct line, 
brothers, uncle and nephew, and those related by marriage 
in the same degrees, cannot be at the same time members of 
the same administration, nor can they succeed them until 
after an interval of two years. 

177. Each department administration is composed of five 
members; it is renewed by a fifth each year. 

178. Every commune whose population runs from five 
thousand to a hundred thousand inhabitants has a municipal 
administration of its own. 

179. There are in every commune whose population is less 
than five thousand inhabitants a municipal agent and an as- 
sistant. 

180. The body of municipal agents of each commune forms 
the municipality of each canton. 

181. There is, moreover, chosen in every canton a presi- 
dent of the municipal administration. 

182. In the communes whose population runs from five 
to ten thousand inhabitants there are five municipal officers ; 

Seven for ten thousand to fifty thousand; 

Nine for fifty thousand to one hundred thousand. 

183. In the communes whose population exceeds one 



234 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



hundred thousand there are at least three municipal admin- 
istrations. 

In these communes the division of the municipahties is 
made in such a manner that the population of the district of 
each does not exceed fifty thousand persons and is not less 
then thirty thousand. 

The municipality of each district is composed of seven 
members. 

184. There is, in the communes which are divided into sev- 
eral municipalities, a central bureau for the subjects consid- 
ered indivisible by the Legislative Body. 

This bureau is composed of three members appointed by 
the department administration and confirmed by the executive 
power. 

185. The members of every municipal administration are 
appointed for two years and renewed each year by half or the 
part nearest a half, and by the larger and the smaller fraction 
alternately. 

186. The department administrators and the members of 
the municipal administrations can be re-elected once without 
an interval. 

187. Any citizen who has been elected department admin- 
istrator or member of a municipal administration twice in 
succession and who has discharged the duties in virtue of 
both elections cannot be elected again until after an interval 
of two years. 

188. In case a department or municipal administration 
should lose one or several of its members by death, resigna- 
tion, or otherwise, the remaining administrators in filling tlie 
places can add to themselves temporary administrators who 
act in that capacity until the following elections. 

189. The department and municipal administrators can- 
not alter the acts of the Legislative Body nor those of the 
Executive Directory, nor suspend the execution of them. 

They cannot meddle with matters belonging to the judic- 
ial body. 

190. The administrators are particularly charged with the 
apportionment of the direct taxes and with surveillance over 
the monies accruing from the public revenues in their terri- 
tory. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



235 



The Legislative Body determines the regulations and the 
method of their functions upon these subjects as well as upon 
other parts of the internal administration. 

191. The Executive Directory appoints over each depart- 
ment and municipal administration a commissioner whom it 
recalls when it deems expedient. 

This commissioner watches over and requires the execu- 
tion of the laws. 

192. The commissioner for each local admmistration shall 
be taken from among the citizens domiciled for a year past in 
the department where that administration is established. 

He must be at least twenty-five years of age. 

193. The municipal administrations are subordinate to the 
department administrations and these to the ministers. 

In consequence, the ministers can annul, each on his part, 
the acts of the department administrations, and these the acts 
of the municipal administrations, when these acts are contrary 
to the laws or the orders of the higher authorities. 

194. The ministers can also suspend the department ad- 
ministrations which have contravened the laws or the orders 
of the higher authorities, and the department administrators 
have the same right with respect to the members of the muni- 
cipal administrations. 

195. No suspension or annulment becomes definitive with- 
out the formal confirmation of the Executive Directory. 

196. The Directory can also annul directly the acts of de- 
partment or municipal administrations. 

It can also suspend or dismiss directly when it thinks 
necessary either the department or the canton administrators 
and send them before the tribunals of the department when 
there is occasion. 

197. Every order providing for the annulment of acts, sus- 
pension, or dismissal of an administrator must include a state- 
ment of the reasons. 

198. When five members of a department administration 
are dismissed the Executive Directory provides for their re- 
placement until the following election; but it can choose their 
substitutes only from among the former administrators of the 
same department. 

199. The administrations, whether department or canton, 
can correspond among themselves only upon the matters as- 



236 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

signed to them by the law and not upon the general interests 
of the Republic. 

200. Every administration shall annually render an ac- 
count of its management. 

The reports rendered by the department administrations are 
to be printed. 

201. All the acts of the administrative bodies are made 
public by the deposit of the register wherein they are recorded, 
which is open to all persons under the administration. 

This register is closed every six months and is deposited 
only from the day that it has been closed. 

The Legislative Body can postpone, according to circum- 
stances, the day fixed for this deposit. 

TITLE VIII. JUDICIAL POWER. 

General Provisions. 

202. The judicial functions cannot be exercised by the 
Legislative Body nor by the executive power. 

203. The judges cannot interfere in the exercise of the 
legislative power nor make any regulation. 

They cannot stop or suspend the execution of any law nor 
cite before them the administrators on account of their func- 
tions. 

204. No one can be deprived of the judges that the law 
assigns to him by 'any commission nor by other authorities 
than those which are fixed by a prior law. 

205. Justice is rendered gratuitously. 

206. The judges cannot be dismissed except for legally 
pronounced forfeiture, nor suspended except by an accepted 
accusation. 

207. The ancestor and the descendant in the direct line, 
brothers, uncle and nephew, cousins of the first degree, and 
those related by marriage in these various degrees, cannot be 
at the same time members of the same tribunal. 

208. The sittings of the tribunals are public; the judges 
deliberate in secret; the judgments are pronounced orally; 
they include a statement of reasons and in them is set forth 
the terms of the law applied. 

209. No citizen, unless he is fully thirty years of age, can 
be elected judge of a department tribunal, or justice of the 
peace, or assessor of a justice of the peace, or judge of a tri- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 237 

bimal of commerce, or member of the tribunal of cassation, or 
juror, or commissioner of the Executive Directory before the 
tribunals. 

Of Civil Justice. 

210. The right to have differences passed upon by arbitra- 
tors chosen by the parties cannot be impaired. 

211. The decision of these arbitrators is without appeal 
and without recourse in cassation, unless the parties have 
expressly reserved it. 

212. There are in each district fixed by law a justice of 
the peace and his assessors. 

They are all elected for twO' years and can be immediately 
and indefinitely re-elected. 

213. The law determines the matters over which the jus- 
tices of the peace and the assessors have jurisdiction in the 
last resort. 

It assigns to them the others over which they pronounce 
judgment subject to appeal. 

214. There are special tribunals for land and maritime 
commerce; the law fixes the places where it is permissible to 
establish them. 

Their power to pronounce judgment in the last resort can- 
not be extended beyond the value of five hundred myriagrams 
of wheat (a hundred and two quintals, twenty-two pounds). 

215. Cases of which the trial belongs neither to the 
justices of the peace nor to the tribunals of commerce, 
either in the last resort or subject to appeal, are brought 
directly before the justice of the peace and his assessors in 
order to be conciliated. 

If the justice of the peace cannot conciliate them, he sends, 
them before the civil tribunal. 

216. Tkhere is one civil tribunal per department. 

Each civil tribunal is composed of twenty judges at least, 
one commissioner and one substitute appointed and removable 
by the Executive Directory, and one recorder. 

The election of all the members of a tribunal takes place 
every five years. 

The judges can be re-elected. 

217. At the time of the election of the judges five substi- 
tutes are selected, three of whom are taken from among the 



238 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

citizens residing in the commune v/here the tribunal sits. 

218. The civil tribunal pronounces in the last resort, in 
the cases determined by law, upon appeals from judgments, 
either of the justices of the peace, or of the arbitrators, or 
of the tribunals of commerce. 

219. The appeal from the judgments pronounced by the 
civil tribunal goes to the civil tribunal of one of the three 
nearest departments, as is determined by law. 

220. The civil tribunal is divided into sections. 

A section with less than five judges cannot pronounce 
judgment. 

221. The assembled judges in each tribunal select among 
themselves by secret ballot the president of each section. 

Of Correctional and Criminal Justice- 

222. No one can be seized except in order to be brought 
before the officer of police; and no one can be put under ar- 
rest or detained except in virtue of a warrant of arrest from 
the officers of police or from the Executive Directory, in the 
case of article 145, or an order of arrest either from a tribunal 
or the foreman of the jury of accusation, or of a decree of ac- 
cusation from the Legislative Body in the case where it has 
authority to pronounce, or of a judicial judgment of con- 
demnation to prison or. correctional detention. 

223. In order that the warrant which orders the arrest 
may be executed, it is necessary : 

ist. That it set forth formally the cause for the arrest and 
the law in conformity with which it is ordered ; 

2d. That it has been made known to the one who is the 
subject of it and that he has been left a copy thereof. 

224. Every person seized and brought before the officer of 
police shall be examined immediately or within a day at the 
latest. * 

225. If the examination discloses that there is no matter 
for inculpation against him, he shall be put at liberty at once ; 
or, if there is occasion to send him to jail, he shall be brought 
there within the shortest period possible, which in any case 
shall not exceed three days. 

226. No arrested person can be detained, if he gives suf- 
ficient bail, in any of the cases where the law permits him to 
remain free under bail. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 339 

227. No person, in a case in which his detention is author- 
ised by the law, can be brought to or detained except in the 
places legally and publicly designated to serve for jails, court 
houses, or houses of detention. 

228. No custodian or jailer can receive or retain any 
person except in virtue of a warrant of arrest according to the 
forms prescribed by articles 222 and 223, an order for the tak- 
ing of the body, a decree of accusation, or a judicial decision 
of condemnation to prison or correctional detention, and un- 
less the transcript of it has been entered upon his register. 

229.^ Every custodian or jailer is required, without any or- 
der being able to dispense therewith, to present the detained 
person to the civil officer having the police of the house of 
detention, whenever he shall be so required by that officer. 

230. Production of the detained person cannot be refused 
to his relatives and friends who are bearers of an order of the 
civil officer, who shall always be required to accord it. unless 
the custodian or jailer presents an order of the judge, tran- 
scribed upon his register, to keep the arrested person in 'secret. 

231. Any man, whatever his place or employment, other 
than those to whom the law has given the right of arrest, who 
shall give, sign, execute or cause to be executed an order for 
the arrest of any person, or whoever, even in the case of an 
arrest authorised by the law, shall bring to, receive, or detain 
a person in a place of detention not publicly and legally desig- 
nated, and all custodians or jailers who shall contravene the 
provisions of the three preceding articles, shall be guilty of 
the crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 

232. All severities employed in arrests, detentions, or ex. 
ecutions, other than those prescribed by the law, are crimes. 

233. In each department there are at least three and not 
more than six correctional tribunals for the trial of offences 
for whidh the punishment is neither afflictive nor infamous. 

These tribunals cannot pronounce penalties more severe 
than imprisonment for two years. 

Jurisdiction over offences for which the penalty does not 
exceed the value of three days of labor or imprisonment for 
three days is delegated to the justice of the peace, who pro- 
nounces in the last resort. 

234. Each correctional tribunal is composed of a president, 
two justices of the peace or assessors of justices of the peace 



240 CONSTITUTION OF TfiTE YEAR III 

of the commune where it is established, a commissioner of the 
executive power, and a recorder. 

235. The president of each correctional tribunal is taken 
every six months and in turn from among the members of 
the sections of the civil tribunal of the department, the presi- 
dents excepted. 

2z(i. There is an appeal from the judgment of the correc- 
tional tribunal before the department criminal tribunal. 

237. In ■ the matter of offences involving afflictive or . in- 
famous punishment, no person can be tried except upon an ac- 
cusation accepted by the jurors or decreed by the Legislative 
Body, in case it belongs to that body to decree accusation. 

238. A first jury declares whether the accusation ought to 
be accepted or rejected: the facts are passed upon by a second 
jury, and the penalty fixed by the law is applied by the crim- 
inal tribunals. 

239. The jurors vote only by secret ballot. 

240. There are in each department as many accusation 
juries as there are correctional tribunals. 

The presidents of the correctional tribunals are the fore- 
men thereof, each in his own district. 

In the communes of over fifty thousand souls there can be 
established by law, besides the president of the correctional 
tribunal, as many foremen of accusation juries as the transac- 
tion of business shall require. 

241. The functions of commissioner of the executive power 
and recorder for the foreman of the accusation jury are dis- 
charged by the commissioner and recorder of the correctional 
tribunal. 

242. Each foreman of the accusation jury has the immedi- 
ate surveillance over all the police officers of his district. 

243. The foreman of the accusation jury as police officer, 
on account of the denunciations made to him by the public 
accuser, whether ex-officio or in accordance with the orders 
of the Executive Directory, immediately prosecutes : 

I St. Attempts against the liberty or personal security of the 
citizens ; 

2d. Those committed against the laws of nations ; 

3d. Resistance to the execution of the judicial decisions or 
any of the executive acts emanating from the constituted au- 
thorities ; 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



241 



4th. Disturbances caused and assaults committed in order 
to hinder the collection of tr.xes and the free circulation of 
provisions and other articles of commerce. 

244. There is one criminal tribunal for each department. 

245. The criminal tribunal is composed of a president, a 
public accuser, four judges taken from the civil tribunal, the 
commissioner of the executive power before the tribunal or his 
substitute, and a recorder. 

There is in the criminal tribunal of the department of the 
Seine a vice-president and a substitute for the public accuser : 
this tribunal is divided into two sections ; eight members of 
the civil tribunal discharge there the duties of judges. 

246. The presidents of the sections of the civil tribunals 
cannot fill the positions of judges upon the criminal tribunal. 

247. The other judges, each in his turn for six months 
in the order of his 'appointment, perform their duty there and 
they cannot discharge any functions in the civil tribunal during 
that time. 

248. The public accuser is charged : 

I St. To prosecute the offences according to the warrants 
of accusation accepted by the first juries; 

2d. To transmit to^ the police officers the denunciations 
which are addressed directly to him; 

3d. To watch over the police officers of the department and 
to proceed against them, according to the law, in cases of neg- 
ligence or more serious acts. 

249. The commissioner of the executive power is charged : 
I St. To require regularity of forms in the course of the pro- 
ceedings before the decision, and the application of the law. 

2d. To obtain the execution of the decisions rendered by 
the criminal tribunal. 

250. The judges cannot propound to the jurors any com- 
plex question. 

251. The trial jury consists of at least twelve jurors: the 
accused has the right to reject the number of them which the 
law determines. 

252. The proceedings before the trial jury are public and 
the accused cannot be denied the assistance of counsel whom 
he has chosen or who has been selected for him ex-officio. 

253. No person acquitted by a legal jury can be re-arrested 
or accused for the same offence. 



242 CONSTITUTION OF THE l^EAR III 

Tribunal of Cassation. 

254. There is in the whole Republic one Tribunal of Cas- 
sation. 

It decides : 

1st. Upon the petitions in cassation against the judicial de- 
cisions in the last resort rendered by the tribunals ; 

2d. Upon petitions for removal from one court to another 
on account of legitimate suspicion or public security; 

3d. Upon the orders of judges and the complaints of. par- 
tiality of a whole court. 

255. The Tribunal of Cassation can never have jurisdic- 
tion over the matter of the actions; but it reverses the judg- 
ments rendered upon proceedings in which the forms have 
been violated or which contain any express contravention of 
the law, and it sends back the matter of the suit to the tribunal 
which shall have jurisdiction therein. 

256. When after one cassation the second judgment upon 
the matter is attacked by the same means as the first, the ques- 
tion cannot be discussed again before the Tribunal of Cas- 
sation without having been submitted to the Legislative Body, 
which provides a law to which the Tribunal of Cassation is re- 
quired to conform .itself. 

257. Each year the Tribunal of Cassation is required to 
send to each of the sections of the Legislative Body a deputa- 
tion which presents to it the list of the judgments rendered 
with marginal notes and the text of the laws which have de- 
termined the judgment. 

258. The number of the judges of the Tribunal of Cas- 
sation cannot exceed three-fourths of the number of the de- 
partments. 

259. This tribunal is renewed every year by a fifth. 

The electoral assemblies of the departments select succes- 
sively and alternately the judges who shall replace those who 
retire from the Tribunal of Cassation. 

The judges of this tribunal can always be re-elected, 

260. Each judge of the Tribunal of Cassation has a substi- 
tute elected by the same electoral assembly. 

261. There are before the Tribunal of Cassation a com- 
missioner and substitutes appointed and removable by the Ex- 
ecutive Directory. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 245 

26Q. The Executive Directoo^ informs the Tribunal of 
Cassation, by means of its commissioner and without pre- 
judice to the right of the interested parties, of the acts in 
which the judges have exceeded their power i. 

263. The Tribunal annuls these acts ; and if they give cause 
for forfeiture the fact is announced to the Legislative Body, 
which renders the decree of accusation, after having heard 
or summoned the accused. 

264. The Legislative Body can annul the judgments of the 
Tribunal of Cassation, reserving the personal prosecution of 
the judges who may have incurred forfeiture. 

High Court of Justice. 

265. There is a High Court of Justice to try the accusa- 
tions accepted by the Legislative Body against either its own 
members or those of the Executive Directory. 

266. The High Court of Justice is composed of five judges 
and two national accusers drawn from the Tribunal of Cas- 
sation and of high jurors selected by the electoral assemblies 
of the departments. 

267. The High Court of Justice constitutes itself only 
in virtue of a proclamation of the Legislative Body drawn up 
and published by the Council of the Five Hundred. 

268. It constitutes itself and holds its sittings in the place 
designated by the proclamation of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 

This place cannot be nearer than twelve myriameters to 
that where the Legislative Body resides. 

269. When the Legislative Body has proclaimed the form- 
ation of the High Court of Justice, the Tribunal of Cassation 
in a public sitting draws by lot fifteen of its members; it se- 
lects in the same sitting five of these fifteen, one after another, 
by means of secret ballot: the five judges thus selected 
are the judges of the High Court of Justice; they choose a 
president from among themselves. 

270. The Tribunal of Cassation selects by ballot, in the 
same sitting and by majority, two of its members to discharge 
for the High Court of Justice the functions of national ac- 
cusers. 

271. The bills of accusation are drawn up and put into 
form by the Council of the Five Hundred. 



244 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



272. The electoral assemblies of each department select 
every year a jury for the High Court of Justice. 

273. The Executive Directory causes to be printed and 
published, one month after the date of the elections, the list 
of the jurors appointed by the High Court of Justice. 

TITLE IX. OF THE ARMED FORCE. 

274. The armed force is established in order to defend the 
State against enemies from without and to assure within the 
maintenance of order and the execution of the laws. 

275. The armed force is essentially obedient: no armed 
body can deliberate. 

276. It is divided into the reserve National Guard and the 
active National Guard. 

Of the Reserve National Guard. 

2']']. The reserve National Guard is composed of all citi- 
zens and sons of citizens in condition to bear arms. 

278. Its organization and its discipline are the same for 
the whole Republic ; they are fixed by the law. 

279. No Frenchman can exercise the rights of citizenship 
if he is not registered upon the roll of the reserve National 
Guard. 

280. The distinctions of rank and subordination exist 
there only in relation to the service and during its continuance. 

281. The officers of the reserve National Guard are elected 
at stated times by the citizens who compose it and can be re- 
elected only after an interval. 

282. The command of the National Guard of an entire 
department cannot be entrusted ordinarily to a single citizen. 

283. If it is deemed necessary to assemble the whole Na- 
tional Guard of a department, the Executive Directory can 
appoint a temporary commander. 

284. The command of the reserve National Guard in a city 
of a hundred thousand and upwards cannot ordinarily be en- 
trusted to a single man. 

Of the Active National Guard. 

285. The Republic maintains in its pa}^ even in time of 
peace, under the name of the Active National Guards, an army 
and a navy. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 245 

286. The army is formed b)'- voluntary enlistment, and in 
case of need, by the method which the law determines. 

287. No foreigner who has not acquired the rights of 
French citizenship can be admitted into the French armies, 
unless he has made one or more campaigns for the establish- 
ment of the Republic. 

288. The commanders or heads of the army or navy are 
appointed only in case of war. They receive from the Direc- 
tory commissions revocable at will. The duration of these 
commissions is confined to one campaign ; but they can be con- 
tinued. 

289. The command of the armies of the Republic cannot 
be confided to a single man. 

290. The army and navy are subject to special laws for 
discipline, for the form of trials, and for the nature of the pen- 
alties. 

291. No part of the reserve National Guard or of the 
active National Guard can act in the internal service of the 
Republic except upon the written requisition of the civil au- 
thority in the forms prescribed by the law. 

292. The public force cannot be requisitioned by the civil 
authorities except within the extent of their territory; it can- 
not be transported from one canton into another, without 
this being authorised by the administration of the department, 
nor from one department into another without the orders of 
the Executive Directory. 

293. Nevertheless, the Legislative Body determines the 
methods to secure by the armed force the execution of the 
judicial decisions and the prosecution of the accused upon all 
the French territory. 

294. In case of imminent danger the municipal administra- 
tion of the canton can make requisition upon the National 
Guard of the neighboring cantons ; in this case the adminis- 
tration which has made requisition and the leaders of the Na- 
tional Guards who have been requisitioned are likewise re- 
quired to make instant report of it to the department ad- 
ministration. 

295. No foreign troops can be introduced upon French ter- 
ritory without the previous consent of the Legislative Body. 



246 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

TITLE X. PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

296. There are in the Republic primary schools where the 
pupils may learn reading, writing, the elements of computation 
and those of morality. The Republic provides for the expense 
of the lodgings of the instructors who preside over these 
schools. 

297. There are in the different parts of the Republic 
schools higher than the primary schools, the number of which 
shall be such that there shall be at least one of them for every 
two departments. 

298. There is for the whole Republic a National Institute 
charged with the collection of discoveries and the perfecting of 
the arts and sciences. 

299. The different establishments of public instruction 
have between them no relation of subordination nor of ad- 
ministrative correspondence. 

300. Citizens have the right to form private establishments 
for education and instruction as well as free societies to pro- 
mote the progress of science, letters, and the arts. 

301. There shall be national festivals established in order 
to maintain fraternity among the citizens and to attach them 
to the Constitution, the fatherland, and the laws. 

TITLE XL TAXES. 

Taxes. 

302. The public taxes are considered and fixed each year 
by the Legislative Body. The imposition of them belongs to 
it alone. They cannot continue more than one year unless 
they are expressly renewed. 

303. The Legislative Body can create any kind of tax that 
it shall believe necessary; but it shall estabhsh each year a 
land tax and a personal property tax. 

304. Every person, who, not being included in the case of 
articles 12 and 13 of the Constitution, has not been included 
on the roll of the direct taxes, has the right to present himself 
to the municipal administration of his commune and to be en- 
rolled there for a personal tax equal to the local value of three 
days of agricultural labor. 

305. The registration mentioned in the preceding article 
can be effected only in the month of Messidor of each year. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 247 

306. Taxes of every sort are apportioned among those 
liable for taxes in accordance with their means. 

307. The Executive Directory directs and watches over the 
collection and the deposit of the taxes and gives all the or- 
ders necessary for that purpose. 

308. The detailed accounts of the expenditure of the min- 
isters, signed and certified by them, are made public at the 
commencement of each year. 

The same thing shall be done for the lists of receipts for 
the different taxes and all the public revenues. 

309. The accounts of these expenses and receipts are dis- 
tinguished according to their nature; they show the sums re- 
ceived and expended year by year in each part of the general 
administration. 

310. The accounts of the special expenses of the depart- 
ments and those which relate to the tribunals, administrations, 
the progress of the sciences, and all public works and estab- 
lishments are likewise published. 

311. The department administrations and the municipal- 
ities cannot make any assessment beyond the sums fixed by the 
Legislative Body, nor, without being authorised by it, consider 
or allow any local loan at the expense of the citizens of the 
department, commune or canton. 

312. The right to regulate the manufacture and issue of 
every sort of monies, to fix the values and weights thereof, 
and to determine the type thereof, belongs to the Legislative 
Body alone. 

313. The Executive Directory watches over the manufac- 
ture of the monies and appoints the officers charged with the 
immediate conduct of this inspection, 

314. The Legislative Body determines the taxes of the col- 
onies and their commercial relations with the mother country. 

National Treasury and Book-keeping. 

315. There are five commissioners of the National Treas- 
ury elected by the Council of Ancients from a triple list pre- 
sented by that of the Five Hundred. 

316. The duration of their functions is five years : one of 
them is renewed every year and can be re-elected indefinitely 
without interval. 



248 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

317. The commissioners of the Treasury are charged to 
watch over the receipt of all the national monies ; 

To order the movements of funds and the payment of all 
the public expenses consented to by the Legislative Body ; 

To keep an open expense and receipt account with the re- 
ceiver of the direct taxes of each department, with the differ- 
ent national customs-administrations, and with the paymasters 
who may be established in the departments ; 

To maintain with the said receivers and paymasters, with 
the customs-administrations, the correspondence necessary to 
secure exact and regular returns regarding the funds. 

318. Under penalty of forfeiture they cannot make any 
payment except in virtue : 

1st. Of a decree of the Legislative Body and to the amount 
of the funds decreed by it for each purpose ; 

2d. Of a decision of the Directory; 

3d. Of the signature of the minister who orders the expen- 
diture. 

319. Under penalty of forfeiture also, they cannot approve 
any payment, unless the warrant, signed by the minister whom 
that kind of expenditure concerns, ,sets fort^h the date of the 
decision of the Executive Directory as well as of the decrees 
of the Legislative Body which authorise the payment. 

320. The receivers of the direct taxes in each department, 
the different national customs-administrations, and the pay- 
masters in the departments remit to the National Treasury 
their respective reports : the Treasury verifies and allows them. 

321. There are five commissioners of the national book- 
keeping, elected by the Legislative Body at the same dates and 
according to the same forms and conditions as the commis- 
sioners of the Treasury. 

322. The general report of the receipts and expenditures 
of the Republic, supported by the special reports and the 
vouchers, is presented by the commissioners of the Treasury 
to the commissioners of the book-keeping, who verify and 
allow it. 

323. The commissioners of the book-keeping give inform- 
ation to the Legislative Body of the abuses, defalcations, and 
all cases of responsibility which they discover in the course of 
their operations ; they propose on their part the measures suit- 
able to the interests of the RepubHc. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



249 



324. The result of the accounts allowed by the commis- 
sioners of the book-keeping is printed and made public. 

325. The commissioners, both of the National Treasury 
and of the book-keepmg, cannot be isuspended or removed 
except by the Legislative Body. 

But during the adjournment of the Legislative Body the 
Executive Directory can provisionally suspend and replace 
the commissioners of the National Treasury to the number of 
two at most, subject to the reference of it to one or the other 
Council of the Legislative Body as soon as they have resumed 
their sittings. 

TITLE XII. FOREIGN RELATIONS. 

326. War can be declared only by a decree of the Legisla- 
tive Body upon the formal and urgent proposal of the Exec 
utive Directory. 

327. The two Councils unite in the usual forms upon the 
decree by which war is declared. 

328. In case of imminent or actually begun hostilities, of 
threats or preparations for war against the French Republic, 
the Executive Directory is required to employ, for the defence 
of the State, the means placed at its disposal, subject to giv- 
ing information thereof without delay to the Legislative Body. 

It can even indicate in this case the augmentations of force 
and the new legislative measures which the circumstances 
may require. 

329. The Directory alone can maintain political relations 
abroad, conduct negotiations, distribute the forces of the army 
and the navy as it deems suitable and determine the direction 
of them in case of war. 

330. It is authorised to make preliminary stipulations such 
as armistices and neutralizations ; it can also arrange secret 
conventions. 

331. The Executive Directory negotiates, signs or causes 
to be signed all the treaties of peace, alliance, truce, neutral- 
ity, commerce and other conventions with foreign powers 
which it deems necessary for the welfare of the State. 

These treaties and conventions are negotiated in the name 
of the French Republic by the diplomatic agents appointed by 
the Executive Directory and subject to its instructions. 

332. In case a treaty includes secret articles, the provis- 



250 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 

ions of these articles cannot be destructive of the open articles, 
nor contain any alienation of the territory of the Republic. 

:^23. Treaties are valid only after having been examined 
and ratified by the Legislative Body; nevertheless the secret 
conditions can receive their execution provisionally from the 
very moment when they are arranged by the Directory. 

334. Neither of the legislative Councils deliberates over 
war or peace except in committee of the whole. 

335. Foreigners, whether established in France or not, 
inherit from their kinsmen, whether French or foreign; they 
can contract for, acquire, and receive estates situated in France 
and dispose of them, just as French citizens, by all the means 
authorised by law. 

TITLE XIII. REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

336. If experience makes known inconveniences from any 
articles of the Constitution, the Council of Ancients may pro- 
pose the revision of them. 

S37. The proposal of the Council of Ancients is in this 
case submitted for ratification to the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 

338. When, within a space of nine years, the proposal of 
the Council of Ancients, ratified by the Council of the Five 
Hundred, has been made at three dates removed from one an- 
other by at least three years, an assembly of revision is con 
voked. 

339. This assembly is formed of two members per depart- 
ment, all elected in the same manner as the members of the 
Legislative Body and meeting the same conditions as those 
demanded for the Council of Ancients. 

340. The Council of Ancients designates, for the meeting 
of the assembly of revision, a place at least twenty myriame- 
ters distant from that where the Legislative Body sits. 

341. The assembly of revision has the right to change the 
place of its residence, observing the distance prescribed in 
the preceding article. 

342. The assembly of revision does not exercise any leg- 
islative or governmental function; it confines itself to the 
revision of the articles alone which have been designated by 
the Legislative Body. 

343. All the articles of the Constitution, without exception, 



CONSTITUTION OE^ TFIE YEAR III 25 1 

continue in force until the changes proposed by the assembly 
of revision have been accepted by the people. 

344. The members of the assembly of revision deliberate 
in com.mon. 

345. The citizens who are members of the Legislative 
Body at the moment when an assembly of revision is con- 
voked cannot be elected members of this assembly. 

346. The assembly of revision despatches directly to the 
primary assemblies the project of reform which it has agreed 
upon. It is dissolved when this project has been despatched 
tO' them. 

347. The duration of the assembly of revision cannot in 
any case exceed three months. 

348. The members of the assembly of revision cannot 
be questioned, accused, nor tried at any time for what they 
have said or written in the exercise of their functions. 

During the continuance of these functions they cannot be 
put on trial except by a decision of their fellow members of 
the assembly of revision. 

349. The assembly of revision does not participate in 
any public ceremony; its members receive the same compen- 
sation as that of the m.embers of the Legislative Body. 

350. The assembly of revision has the right to exercise 
or to cause to be exercised the police power in the commune 
where it resides. 

TITLE XIV. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

351. There exists among the citizens no other superiority 
than that of the public functionaries and that only in relation 
to the exercise of their functions. 

352. The law does not recognize religious vows nor any 
obligation contrary to the natural rights of man. 

353. No one can be prevented from speaking, writing, 
printing, or publishing his ideas. 

Writings cannot be made subject to any censorship before 
their publication. 

No one can be held responsible for what he has written 
or published, except in the cases provided for by law. 

354. No one can be prevented from engaging in the wor- 
ship which he has chosen, while he conforms to the laws. 



252 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



No one can be forced to contribute to the expenses of a 
religion. The Republic does not pay a stipend to any of them. 

355. There is neither privilege, nor mastership, nor jurande, 
nor limitation upon the liberty of the press, of commerce, and 
the pursuit of industry and the arts of every kind. 

Every prohibitive law of this sort, when circumstances 
render it necessary, is essentially provisional and has effect 
only for one year at most, unless it be formally renewed. 

356. The law particularly watches over the professions 
which affect the public morals, the security and the health of 
the citizens ; but admission to the practice of these professions 
cannot be made dependent upon any pecuniary payment. 

357. The law shall provide for the reward of inventors 
or for the maintenance of an exclusive property in their dis- 
coveries or their productions. 

358. The Constitution guarantees the inviolability of all 
properties or just indemnification for those of which legally 
established public necessity may demand the sacrifice. 

359. The house of each citizen is an inviolable asylum : 
during the night no one has the right to enter it except in 
the case of fire, flood, or call from the interior of the house. 

During the day the orders of the constituted authorities 
can be put into execution there. 

No domiciliary visit can take place except in virtue of a 
law and for the person or object expressly designated in the 
document which orders the visit. 

360. Corporations or associations contrary to the public 
order cannot be formed. 

361. No assembly of citizens can style itself a popular 
society. 

362. No private society occupying itself with political ques- 
tions can correspond with another, or affiliate with it, or 
hold public sittings composed of the members of the society 
and of associates distinguished from one another, or impose 
conditions of admission and eligibihty, or arrogate to itself 
rights of exclusion, or cause its members to wear any ex- 
ternal sign of their association. 

363. Citizens cannot exercise their political rights except 
in the primary or communal assemblies. 

364. All persons are free to address petitions to the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR III 



253 



public authorities ; but they shall be individual ; no association 
can present them collectively, except the constituted author- 
ities, and only for matters appropriate to their province. 

The petitioners must never forget the respect due to the 
constituted authorities. 

365. Every armed mob is an attack upon the Constitu- 
tion; it shall be dispersed immediately by force. 

366. Every unarmed mob shall likewise be dispersed, at 
first by way of verbal command, and if necessary by the 
display of armed force. 

S()7. Several constituted authorities can never unite in 
order to deliberate together; any document emanating from 
such a meeting cannot be executed. 

368. No one can wear distinctive badges which recall 
functions formerly exercised or services rendered. 

369. The members of the Legislative Body and all the 
public functionaries wear in the discharge of their functions 
the costume or symbol of the authority with which they are 
invested : the law determines the form of them. 

370. No citizen can renounce in whole or in part the com- 
pensation or salary, which is assigned to him by law, on 
account of public functions. 

371. There is uniformity of weights and measures in the 
Republic. 

372. The French era commences September 22, 1792, the 
day of the foundation of the Republic. 

2,7Z- The French nation declares that in any case it will 
not permit the return of the French who, having abandoned 
their fatherland since July 15, 1789, are not included in the 
exceptions contained in the laws against the ;£migres ; and it 
forbids the Legislative Body to create new exceptions upon 
this point. 

The estates of the fimigres are irrevocably acquired for 
the profit of the Republic. 

374. The French nation likewise proclaims, as a guarantee 
of the public faith, that after a legally consummated award 
of national lands, whatever the origin thereof, the lawful ac- 
quirer cannot be dispossessed of them; saving to third claim- 
ants, if there be need, indemnification by the National Treas- 
ury. ,_ 



254 ^^"^ AGAINST PUBLIC ENEMIES 

375. None of the powers instituted by the Constitution 
has the right to change it in its entirety or in any of its parts, 
saving the reforms which can be effected by way of revision 
in accordance with the provisions of title xiii, 

376. The citizens shall recall without ceasing that it is 
upon the wisdom of the choices in the primary and elec- 
toral assemblies that the duration, preservation, and prosperity 
of the Republic principally depend. 

Z'/y. The French people entrust the safe keeping of the 
present Constitution to the fidelity of the Legislative Body, 
the Executive Directory, the administrators and the judges; 
to the vigilance of the fathers of families ; to the husbands 
and the mothers ; to the aft'ection of the young citizens ; to the 
courage of all the French. 



51. Law against Public Enemies. 

Am-il 16, 1796 (27 Germinal, Year lY), Duvergier, Lois, IX, 
79-80^ 

The period of the Directory (1795-1790) was marked by numer- 
ous harsh measures against the classes demoninated public 
enemies. This law shows some of the classes which were regarded 
as public enemies a.nd the character of the penalties employed 
against them. See also No. 56. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution Francaisc, 5S0-5S1. 

I. All those are guilty of crime against the internal se- 
curity of the Republic and against the personal security of the 
citizens, and shall be punished with death, in conformity with 
article 612 of the code of offences and penalties, who, by 
their discourses or by their printed writings, whether distrib- 
uted or posted, seek to effect the dissolution of the national 
representation or that of the Executive Directory, or the mur- 
der of all or any of the members who compose them, or the 
re-establishment of the monarch}^, or that of the Constitution 
of 1793, or that of the Constitution of 1791, or of any govern-. 
ment other than that established by the Constitution of the 
Year III, as accepted by the French people, or the invasion 
of public properties, or the pillage or partition of individual 
properties, under the name of an agrarian law, or in any other 
manner. 



TREATIES WITH THE POPE 



25 S 



The penalty of death mentioned in the present article shall 
be commuted to that of deportation, if the jury declares that 
there were extenuating circumstances in the offence. 

5. Every gathering in which provocations of the nature 
of those mentioned in article i are made takes the character 
of a seditious mob . 

g. Every person who shall appear in public wearing a 
rallying symbol other than the national cockade shall be ar- 
rested and punished with one year of imprisonment, by way of 
correctional poHce. ... 



52. Treaties with the Pope. 

In 1796-7 during the intervals between his Italian campaigns 
against the Austrians Napoleon Bonaparte turned his attention 
to the states of northern and central Italy. Some he revolution- 
ized, others he did not. These documents show how the states 
which were not revolutionized were treated. 

REFEKE^'CES. FyfTe, Modern Europe, I, 135-136 (Popular ed., 
91-92) ; Pournier, Napoleon, 84-85, 93-95 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 93- 
95, 125-126 : Sioane, Napoleon, I, 211, 260-262 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon^ 
101-104, 124-127, 155-157 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gen- 
erale, VIII, 436-439. 

A. Suspension of Hostilities. June 23, 1796 (5 Mes- 
sidor, Year IV). De Clercq, 'Iraites, I, 2'/6-2'/y. 

' I. Wishing to give proof of the regard which the French 
government has for His Majesty, the King of Spain, the 
General-in-Chief and the undersigned Commissioners grant 
a suspension of hostilities to His Holiness, dating fromi to-day 
until five days after the end of the negotiations which are 
about to be entered upon at Paris for the conclusion of a 
definitive peace between the two States. 

2. The Pope shall send as soon as possible a Plenipoten- 
tiary to Paris in order to obtain from the Executive Direc- 
tory the definitive peace, offering for it the necessary repar- 
ations for outrages and losses, and especially the murder 
of Basseville and the damages due to his family. 



256 



TREATIES WITH THE POPE 



3. All persons imprisoned in the States of the Pope on 
account of their political opinions shall be immediately set at 
liberty and their property shall be restored. 

4. The ports of the States of the Pope shall be closed to 
the vessels of the Powers at war with France and open to 
French vessels. 

5. The French army shall continue to remain in possession 
of the legations of Bologna and Ferrara, and shall evacuate 
that of Faenza. 

6. The citadel of Ancona, with its artillery, supplies and 
provisions, shall be put in the hands of the French army within 
six days. 

7. The city of Ancona shall continue to remain under the 
civil government of the Pope. 

8. The Pope shall deliver to the French Republic one hun- 
dred pictures, busts, vases or statues at the choice of the com- 
missioners who shall be sent to Rome, among which articles 
shall be particularly included the bronze bust of Junius Brutus 
and that in marble of Marcus Brutus, the two placed upon 
the Capitol, and five hundred manuscripts at the choice of the 
same commissioners. 

9. The Pope' shall pay to the French Republic 21 
million livres French money, of which 15,500,000 livres 
shall be in specie or ingots of gold or silver and the remain- 
ing 5,500,000 in commodities, merchandise, horses, and cattle, 
according to the requisition which shall be made for them by 
the Agents of the French Republic. 

The 15,500,000 livi'es shall be paid in three periods, to wit: 
5 million within 15 days, 5 within a month, and the 5,500,000 
within three months. The 5,500,000 in commodities, merchan- 
dise, horses, and cattle, as fast as demands are made, shall be 
delivered in the ports of Genoa, Leghorn, and other places 
occupied by the army, which shall be designated. 

The sum of 21 millions mentioned in the present 
article is independent of the contributions which are or shall 
be levied in the legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Faenza. 

10. The Pope shall be required to give passage to the 
troops of the French Republic, whenever it shall be demanded 
of him. The provisions which shall be furnished them shall 
be paid for by mutual agreement. 



TREATIES WITH THE POPE 



257 



B. Treaty of Tolentino. February 19, 1797 (i Ventose, 
Year V). De Clercq, Traites, I, 313-316. 

The General-in-Chief Bonaparte, commanding the army of 
Italy, and Citizen Cacanlt, Agent of the French Republic in 
Italy . . . and . . . Plenipotentiaries of His Holi- 
ness, have agreed upon the following articles : 

1. There shall be peace, friendship, and good understand- 
ing between the French Republic and Pope Pius VI. 

2. The Pope revokes every written or secret adhesion, 
consent, and accession given by him to the armed coalition 
against the French Repubhc and to every treaty of offensive 
or defensive alliance with any Power or State whatsoever. 
He binds himself, as well for the existing war as for wars in 
the future, not to furnish to any of the Powers in arms against 
the French Republic any assistance in men, vessels, arms, mu- 
nitions of war, provisions and money by any title or under 
anv -denomination whatsoever. 



4. The warships or privateers of Powers in arms against 
the Republic shall not be permitted to enter, and still less to 
remain, during the present war, into the ports and roadsteads 
of the Ecclesiastical State. 

5. The French Republic shall continue to enjoy, as before 
the war, all the rights and prerogatives which France had 
at Rome, and in everything shall be treated as are the most 
favored Powers, and especially in respect to its Ambassador, 
or Minister, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls. 

6. The Pope renounces unconditionally all the rights 
to which he could lay claim upon the cities and territory of 
Avignon, the County of Venaissin and its dependencies, and 
transfers, cedes, and abandons the said rights to the French 
Republic. 

7. The Pope also forever renounces, cedes, and transfers 
to the French Republic all his rights to the territories known 
under the names of the Legations of Bologna, Ferraira and 
Romagna: no attack shall be made upon the Catholic religion 
in the said Legations. 

8. The city, citadel, and villages forming the territory of 



258 



LAW UPON BRITISH PRODUCTS 



the city of Ancona shall remain with the French Republic 
until the continental peace. 

12. . . . The Pope shall pay to the French Re- 
public in coin, diamonds, or other valuables, the sum of 
15,000,000 Tours livres of France, of which 10,000,000 shall 

be in the course of the month of Alarch and 5,000,000 in the 
course of the following April. 



53. Lavv' upon British Prodtscts. 

October 31, 1796 (10 Brumaire, Year Y). Duvergier, Lois, IX, 
-210-213. 

This document has a double interest. It shows one of the meth- 
ods employed by the 33ireetory in the war against England and 
it contains the germ of that policy which Napoleon subsequently 
deA^eloped into the Continental system. The states dependent upon 
France were easily induced to adopt similar measures. 

References. Rose, Najjoleon, I, 134-137 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 
95-96, and English Historical Review, VIII, 704-725 ; Mahan, Sea 
I'oiCer . . . French Revolution, 11, 248-251. 

1. The importation of manufactured merchandise, the 
product of English manufacture or commerce, is prohibited, 
both by land and by sea, within the entire extent of the French 
Republic. 

2. No vessel loaded in whole or in part with the said 
merchandise shall enter into the ports of the Republic under 
any pretext whatsoever, on penalty of being seized immediate- 
ly; saving, nevertheless, the application of the law of 23 
Brumaire, Year III, in the cases for which it has provided. 



5- Whatever may have been their origin, the following ar- 
ticles imported from abroad are reputed to be the product of 
English manufactures : 

1st. Every kind of cotton velvet and all fabrics and 
cloths of wool, cotton and hair or mixtures of these materials ; 
every sort of piques, dimities, nankinettes and muslinettes ; 
woolen, cotton and hair thread and the carpets called English; 



CONVENTION WITH GENOA 



259 



2d. Every kind of hosiery, cotton or wool, single or 
mixed ; 

3d. Buttons of every kind ; 

4th. Every sort of plate, all products in fine hardware, 
cutlery, toys, clock-making, and other products in iron, steel, 
copper, brass, cast-iron, sheet-iron, tin, or other metals, pol- 
ished or not polished, pure or mixed; 

5'th. Hides tanned, curried or prepared, worked up or 
not worked up ; carriages, set up or not set up, harness and all 
other articles of harness-making; 

6th. Ribbons, hats, veils and shawls known under the 
denomination of English ; 

7th. Every sort of skin for gloves, small-clothes, and 
waistcoats, and these same articles manufactured ; 

8th. Every kind of glass ware and crystal other than the 
glasses serving for the making of spectacles and in watch- 
making ; 

9th. Refined sugars, in lump or in powder ; 

loth. Every kind of faience or pottery known under the 
denomination of earthen or stone ware of England. 

6. Dating from the publications of the law, it is forbidden 
to all persons to sell or to expose for sale any article the 
product of English manufactures or commerce, and to all 
printers to print any notice which may announce these sales. 



54. Secret Convention with Genoa. 

June 6, 1797 (18 Prarial, Year V). De Clercq, Traites. I, 
326-328. 

The ancient and oligarchical Republic of Genoa was one of the 
Italian states revolutionized by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796-7. 
The revolution was effected through this document. From it the 
character of the new government and its relationship to France 
can be seen. In both respects it is typical for all of the republics 
then established by the French in Italy. 

References. Rose, Napoleon, I, 134-137; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 
7 : Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, 204-208 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoirc 
Oenerale, VIII, 775-776. 

The French Republic and the Republic of Genoa, wishing 
to consolidate the union of harmony which of all time has 



26o CONVENTION WITH GENOA 

existed between them, and the government of Genoa believing 
that the welfare of the Genoese nation, in the present circum- 
stances, requires that it should return to her the deposit of 
the sovereignty of the nation, with which it has been en- 
trusted, the French Republic and the Republic of Genoa have 
agreed upon the following articles : 

1. The government of the Republic of Genoa recognizes 
that the sovereignty resides in the body of all the citizens 
of the Genoese territory. 

2. The legislative power shall be confided to two repre- 
sentative Councils, one of 300, the other of 150 members. The 
executive power shall be the attribute of a Senate of twelve 
members presided over by a Doge. The Doge and the Sen- 
ators shall be selected by the two Councils. 

3. Each commune shall have a municipality, each district 
an administration. 

4. The methods of election of all the authorities, the cir- 
cumscription of the districts, the portion of authority entrusted 
to each body, the organization of the judicial power and of 
the military forces, shall be determined by a Legislative Com- 
mission, which shall be charged to draw up the constitution 
and all the organic laws of the government, having care in 
this to do nothing which may be contrary to the Catholic 
religion, to guarantee the consolidated debts, to preserve the 
free port of the city of Genoa, the Bank of St. George, and to 
take measures that there may be provision, as far as means 
will permit it, for the maintenance of the poor nobles now 
living. This Commission shall be obliged to complete its 
work within a month, counting from the day of its formation. 

5. The people finding themselves replaced in possession 
of their rights, every kind of privilege or particular organ- 
ization which breaks up the unity of the State finds itself nec- 
essarily dissolved. 

6. The provisional government shall be confided to a 
commission of government composed of 22 members, presided 
over by the present Doge, which shall be installed on the 
14th of the present month of June, 26 Prairial, Year V of 
the French Republic. 

7. The citizens who shall be called upon to compose the 



TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO 2bl 

provisional government of the Republic of Genoa cannot re- 
fuse these functions without being considered as indifferent to 
the safety of the fatherland and [they shall be] condemned to 
a fine of two thousand crowns. 

8. When the provisional government shall be constituted, 
it shall determine the necessary rules for the manner of its 
deliberations. It shall select, within the first week from its 
installation, the Legislative Commission charged to draw up 
the constitution, 

9. The provisional government shall provide for the just 
indemnities due to the French who were plundered on the 
days of 3 and 4 Prairial (May 22 and 23). 

10. The French Republic, wishing to give a proof of the 
interest which it takes in the welfare of the people of Genoa, 
and desiring to see them united and exempt from factions, 
grants an amnesty to all the Genoese of whom it had occasion 
to make complaint, whether by reason of 3 and 4 Prairial 
or by occasion of the various events which occurred within 
the imperial fiefs. The provisional government shall show 
the most lively solicitude to extinguish all the factions, to unite 
all the citizens, and to imbue them with the need of uniting 
about the public liberty, granting for this purpose a general 
amnesty. 

11. The French Republic shall grant to the Republic of 
Genoa protection and, likewise, the aid of its armies, in order 
to facilitate, if it be necessary, the execution of the said articles, 
and to m.aintain the integrity of the territory of the Republic 
of Genoa. 



55. Treaty of Campo Formio. 

October 27, 1797 (26 Vendemiare, Year VI). De Clercq, 
Traites, I, 335-343. 

This treaty terminated the war against Austria begun in 1792, 
It left France at war only with England. The new boundaries of 
France, the changes in Italy, and the arrangements for the reor- 
ganization of Germany are the features of the treaty of most im- 
portance. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 99-100, 108-110 ; Rose, Na- 
poleon, I, 128-130, 155-157 , Sloane, Napoleon, II, 12-16 ; I^anfrey, 



262 TREATS OF ('A.MPO FORMIO 

Napoleon, I. Cli. ix ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, 
VIII, 439-440. 

Maps. Droysen, Jlistorit-cJicr Hand-Atlas, 48 ; Schrader, Atlas 
de Geographie Historique, 48 ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas General, 40. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the Romans, King of Hun- 
gary and of Bohemia, and the French Republic, wishing to 
consolidate the peace of which the foundations were laid in 
the preliminaries signed at the chateau of Ekenwald near Leo- 
ben in Styria, April i8, 1797 (29 Germinal, Year V, of the 
French Republic, one and indivisible), have appointed for 
their Plenipotentiaries, to wit : 



I. There shall be for the future and forever a firm and 
inviolable peace between His Majesty the Emperor of the 
Romans, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, his heirs and 
successors, and the French Republic. . 

3. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bo- 
hemia, renounces for himself and his successors, in favor of the 
French Republic, all his rights and titles to the former Belgic 
Provinces, known under the name of the Austrian Low Coun- 
tries: The French Republic shall possess these countries for- 
ever, in complete sovereignty and proprietorship, and with all 
the territorial advantages which result therefrom. 

5. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, consents that the French Republic should possess 
in complete sovereignty the former Venetian Islands of the 
Levant, to wit : Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura, Cer- 
igo, and other islands dependent upon them, as well as 
Butrinto, Arta, Vonizza, and in general all the former Venetian 
establishments in Albania, which are situated below the Gulf 
of Drin. 

6. The French Republic consents that His Majesty the 
Emperor and King should possess in complete sovereignty 
and proprietorship the countries hereinafter designated, to wit: 
Tstria, Dalmatia, the former Venetian Islands of the Ad- 
riatic, the mouths of the Cattaro, the city of Venice, the 
lagunes and countries included between the hereditary 



TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO 263 

States of His Majesty the Emperor and King, the Adriatic 
Sea, and a line which setting out from Tyrol shall follow the 
stream beyond Gardola, and shall cross the Lake of Garda, 
to Cise; from there a military line to San Giocomo, offering 
an equal advantage to the two parties, which shall be marked 
out by engineering officers appointed by both parties before 
the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. The 
line of limitation shall then pass the Adige at San Giocomo, 
shall follow the left bank of that river to the mouth of the 
Blanc canal, including the part of Porto Lignano which is 
upon the right bank of the Adige, with the district to a radius 
of three thousand toises. The line shall continue by the left 
bank of the Blanc canal, the left bank of the Tartaro, the left 
bank of the canal called the Polisella to its juncture with the 
Po, and the left bank of the great Po to the sea. 

7. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, renounces forever, for himself, his successors and 
assigns, in favor of the Cisalpine Republic, all rights and 
titles springing from these rights, which his said Majesty 
could lay claim to over the countries which he possessed 
before the war, and which now make part of the Cisalpine 
Republic, which shall possess them in complete sovereignty 
and proprietorship, with all the territorial advantages which 
result therefrom. 

8. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, recognizes the Cisalpine Republic as an independent 
power. ... 

18. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, binds himself to cede to the Duke of Modena, as 
indemnity for the countries which that Prince and his heirs 
had in Italy, the Breisgau, which he shall possess upon the 
same conditions as those in virtue of which he possessed Mo- 
dena. 

20. There shall be held at Rastadt a Congress composed 
exclusively of the Plenipotentiaries of the Germanic Empire 
and of those of the French Republic for the pacification be- 
tween these two Powers. This shall be opened one month 



264 



TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO 



after the signature of the present treaty, or sooner if it is 
possible. 



SECRET ARTICLES. 

1. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, consents that the Hmits of the French Republic 
shall extend to the line designated below and pledges himself 
to use his good offices in order that, in establishing peace .with 
the German Empire, the French Republic may obtain this 
same boundary, to wit : 

The left bank of the Rhine from the Swiss frontier below 
Basle to the confluence of the Nette above Andernach, in- 
cluding the tete de Pont at Mannheim on the right bank of 
the Rhine and the town and fortress of Mainz, both banks of 
the Nette, from its mouth to its source near Bruch, from 
here a line passing through Senscherode and Borlei to Kerpen 
and from this town to Udelhofen, Blankenheim, Marmagen, 
Jactenigt, Cale and Gmiind, including the suburbs and sur- 
rounding districts of these places, then the two banks of the 
Olff to its junction with the Roer, the two banks of the 
Roer including Heimbach, Niedeggen, Diiren, and Jiilich, with 
their suburbs and surrounding districts as well as the villages 
on the river and their surrounding districts as far as Limnich ; 
from here a line passing Roffems and Thalens, Dalen, Hilas, 
Papdermod, Laterforst, Radenberg, Haversloo (if this lies 
upon the line), Anderheide, Kalderkirchen, Wambach, Her- 
ringen and Grobray with the town of Venloo and its surround- 
ing territory. If, in spite of the good offices of His Majesty 
the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, the German 
Empire should not consent to the acquisition by the French 
Republic of the frontier above indicated, His Majesty the 
Emperor and King formerly engages not to furnish more than 
his contingent to the army of the Empire, which may not be 
employed in the fortresses without thereby interfering with 
the peace and amity just established between his said Majesty 
and the French Republic. 

2, His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bo- 
hemia, will further use his good offices during the negotiations 
for peace with the German Empire in order that. First, the 



TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO 265 

navigation of the Rhine shall be free to the French Republic 
and to the states of the Empire situated on the right bank 
of this river from Hiiningen to the point where it reaches 
the Batavian Republic; 

Secondly, to arrange that the one in possession of that part 
of Germany opposite the mouth of the Moselle shall never 
upon any pretext whatsoever hinder the free navigation and 
exit of boats or other craft from the mouth of the river ; 

Thirdly, that the French Republic shall enjoy the free nav- 
igation of the Meuse, and that all tolls and other dues which 
may be established from Venloo to the point where the river 
enters Batavian territory, shall be suppressed. 

3. His Majesty the Emperor and King, renounces, on his 
own part and for his successors, the sovereignty over, and 
possession of, the County of Falkenstein and its dependencies, 
in favor of the French Republic. 

4. The territories which His Majesty the Emperor, King 
of Hungary and of Bohemia, is to possess in virtue of Article 
VI of the open, definitive treaty signed this day, shall serve 
as an indemnity for those territories which he cedes by Articles 
HI and VH of the open treaty and by the preceding article. 
This cession shall not, however, have force until the troops 
of His Majesty the Emperor and King shall occupy the ter-" 
ritory acquired by the said article. 

5. The French Republic will employ its good offices in 
order that His Majesty the Emperor may acquire in Ger- 
many the Archbishopric of Salzburg, and that portion of the 
Circle of Bavaria situated between the Archbishopric of Salz- 
burg, the rivers Inn and Salzach and Tyrol, including the city 
of Wasserburg on the right bank of the Inn, with the sur- 
rounding territory within a radius of 3000 toises. 

6. His Majesty the Emperor and King agrees to cede 
to the French Republic, when peace shall be concluded with 
the Empire, the sovereignty and possession of the Frickthal, 
as well as all the possessions of the House of Austria on the 
left bank of the Rhine between Zurzach and Basle, provided 
that in the above-mentioned peace His Majesty shall obtain 
a proportionate compensation in Germany which shall be 
satisfactory. 

The French Republic shall unite the said districts to the 



266 TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO 

Helvetian Republic, according to an arrangement to be made 
between the said countries, without prejudice, however, to 
His Majesty the Emperor and King, or to the Empire. 

7. It is understood between the two contracting powers 
that if, in arranging the pending peace with the German Em- 
pire, the French Republic shall make an acquisition in Ger- 
many, His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bo- 
hemia, shall obtain an equivalent there, and conversely if His 
Ro.val and Imperial Majesty make an acquisition of this -kind, 
the French Republic shall similarly receive an equivalent. 

8. A territorial indemnity shall be given to the Prince of 
Nassau-Dietz, formerly Stadtholder of Holland, but this ter- 
ritorial indemnity shall not be chosen in the neighborhood of 
the Austrian possessions nor of the Batavian Republic. 

9. The French Republic will find no trouble in restoring 
to the King of Prussia his possessions on the left bank of 
the Rhine. Hence there will be no question of any new ac- 
quisitions on the part of the King of Prussia. To this the 
contracting parties mutually pledge themselves. 

10. If the King of Prussia consents to cede to the French 
Republic and to the Batavian Republic certain small portions 
of his possessions upon the left bank of the Meuse, as well as 
the enclave of Zevenaar and other possessions toward the 
Yssel, His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, will employ his good offices to render the said ces- 
sions practicable, and to cause them to be recognized by the 
German Empire. The failure to carry out the present article 
shall not afifect the preceding one. 

11. His Majesty the Emperor will not oppose the dispo- 
sition which the French Republic has made in favor of the 
Ligurian Republic of the Imperial Fiefs. His Majesty the 
Emperor will unite his efforts with those of the French Re- 
public to induce the German Empire to renounce such rights 
of suzerainty as it may have in Italy, especially over the 
districts which form a part of the Cisalpine and Ligurian 
Republics, as well as over the Imperial Fiefs, such as Lusig- 
nana and all those lying between Tuscany and the possessions 
of Parma, the Ligurian and Luccan Republics, and the former 



LAW OF HOSTAGES 267 

territory of Modena, the which fiefs shall form a part of the 
Cisalpine Republic. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and of Bo- 
hemia, and the French Republic, will unite their efforts in 
order that, in negotiating peace with the German Empire, the 
different Princes and States of the Empire which shall suffer 
losses of territory and of rights in consequence of the stipula- 
tions of the present treaty of peace, or later, in consequence 
of the treaty which shall be concluded with the German 
Empire, shall obtain appropriate indemnities in Germany; 
which indemnities shall be determined in common accord with 
the French Republic. This applies especially to the Electors 
of Mainz, Trier and Cologne, the Elector Palatine of Bavaria, 
the Duke of Wiirtemburg and Teck, the Margrave of Baden, 
the Duke of Zweibriicken, the Landgraves of Hesse-Cassel and 
of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Princes of Nassau-Saarbriicken, of 
Salm-Kyrburg, Lowenstein-Wertheim and of Wiedrunkel and 
the Count of Leyen. 

13. The troops of His Majesty the Emperor shall evacuate 
within twenty days after the exchange of the ratifications of 
the present treaty, the city and fortress of Mainz, Ehrenbreit- 
stein, Phillippsburg, Mannheim, Konigsstein, Ulm and Ingol- 
stadt, as well as all the territory belonging to the Germanic 
Empire as far as his hereditary possessions. 

14. The present secret articles shall have the same force 
as if they were inserted word for word in the open treaty of 
peace signed to-day. These shall be ratified at the same time 
by the contracting parties and the acts of ratification shall be 
exchanged in due form, at Rastadt. 



56. Law of Hostages. 

July 12, 1799 (24 Messidor, Year VII). Duvergier, Lois, XI. 
278-281. 

This document is the complement of No. 51. That shows what 
measures might be employed against certain classes of persons 
denominated public enemies ; this shows the measures which might 
be employed against regions where disturbances had occurred. 

Reference. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Q-enerale, VIII, 
396-^97. 

The Council of the Five Hundred, considering that it is 



268 LAW OF HOSTAGES 

time to take effective measures to arrest the progress of the 
system of assassination and brigandage organized at different 
points of the RepubHc against public functionaries, acquirers 
or possessors of national domains, and all citizens attached to 
the constitution of the Year III, 

Approves the act of urgency and the following resolution : 

1. When a department, canton or commune is notoriously 
in a state of civil disturbance, the Executive Directory pro- 
poses to the Legislative Body to declare it included in the fol- 
lowing provisions. 

2. The kinsmen of Emigres, their relatives by marriage, 
and the former nobles included in the laws of 3 Brumaire, 
Year IV, and 9 Frimaire, Year VI, the grandfathers, grand- 
mothers, fathers and mothers of the persons who, without be- 
ing ex-nobles or kinsmen of Emigres, are nevertheless noto- 
riously known as making up part of the gatherings or bands 
of assassins, are personally and civilly responsible for as- 
sassinations and acts of brigandage committed in the interior 
out of hatred to the Republic, in the departments, cantons and 
communes declared in a state of disturbance. 

3. Immediately after the publication of the law rendered 
in execution of article i, the central administrations shall take 
hostages within the classes above designated, in the communes, 
cantons and departments declared in a state of disturbance: 



9. If an assassination is committed upon a citizen who 
actually is or has been since the revolution a public function- 
aiy, or defender of the fatherland, or acquirer or possessor of 
the national domains, the Executive Directory, after having 
consulted the central administrations, is charged to cause to 
be deported outside of the territory of the Republic within two 
decades of the assassination, four of the persons designated 
in article 2 for each person assassinated, taking in the first 
place from among the noble kinsmen of Emigres, secondly 
from among the former nobles, and successively from among 
the kinsmen of persons taking part in the gatherings. 



BRUMAIRE DECREE 269 

57. The Brumaire Decree. 

November 10, 1799 (19 Brumaire, Year VIII). Moniteur, No- 
vember 12, 1799 (21 Brumaire, Year VIII). 

By tile (oup d'etat of Brumaire the government of the Direc- 
tory was overthrown. This decree was passed by a small number 
of members of the Council of the Five Hundred whom Lucian 
Bonaparte gathered about him after the dispersion of the councils 
by force. It gave to the coup d'etat some semblance of legal sanc- 
tion. 

Refeeences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 197-207 (Popular ed., 
133-139); Fournier, Napoleon, 1(56-182; Rose, Napoleon, I, Ch. 
X ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, Chs. x-xi ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, Ch. 
XII ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 403-411; Au- 
lard. Revolution Francaisc, Part III, Ch. v. 

The Council of the Five Hundred, considering the sit- 
uation of the Republic, declares urgency and takes the fol- 
lowing resolution : 

1. The Directory is no more, and the following named pej-- 
sons, owing to the excesses and the crimes in which they have 
constantly engaged, and especially as regards the majority of 
them in the session of this morning, are no longer members of 
the national representation : . . . [Here follow the names 
of sixty-one persons.] 

2. The Corps-Legislatif creates provisionally a consular 
executive com.mission, consisting of Citizens Sieyes, Roger- 
Ducos, and General Bonaparte, who shall bear the name of 
Consuls of the French Republic. 

3. This commission is invested with the plenitude of direc- 
torial power and is particularly charged to organize order in 
all parts of the administration, to re-establish internal tran- 
quility, and to procure honorable and enduring peace. 

4. It is authorised to send out delegates having powers 
which are fixed and are within the limits of its own [powers]. 

5. The Corps-Legislatif adjourns to the following i 
Ventose [Feb. 20, 1800] ; it shall reassemble with perfect right 
upon that date in its palace at Paris. 

6. During the adjournment of the Legislative Body the 
adjourned members preserve their indemnity and their con- 
stitutional guarantee. 

7. Without loss of their character as representatives of the 



270 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 



people, they can be employed as ministers, diplomatic agents, 
delegates of the consular executive commission, and in all 
other civil functions. They are even invited in the name of 
the public welfare to accept these [emploj'ments]. 

8. Before its separation and during the sitting, each Coun- 
cil shall appoint from its own body a commission consisting of 
twenty-five members. 

9. The commissions appointed by the two Councils with 
the formal and requisite proposal of the consular executive 
commission, shall decide upon all urgent matters of police, 
legislation, and finance. 

10. The commission of the Five Hundred shall exercise 
the initiative ; the commission of the Ancients, the approval, 

11. The two commissions are further charged, in the same 
order of labor and co-operation, to prepare the changes to be 
brought about in the organic arrangements of the constitution, 
of which experience has made known the faults and incon- 
veniences. 

12. These changes shall have for their object only to con- 
solidate, guarantee, and consecrate inviolably the sovereignty 
of the French people, the Republic one and indivisible, the rep- 
resentative system, the division of powers, liberty, equality, 
security and property. 

13. The consular executive commission can present its 
views to them in this respect. 

14. Finally, the two commissions are charged to prepare 
a civil code. 

15. They s^all sit at Paris in the place of the Legisla- 
tive Body and they can convoke it in extraordinary session 
for the ratification of peace or in a great public danger. 

16. The present [document] shall be printed, sent by ex- 
traordinary couriers into the departments, and solemnly pub- 
lished and posted in all the communes of the Republic. 



58. Constitution of the Year VIII. 



December 13, 1799. Duvergier, Lois, XII, 20-30. 

This constitution although nominally framed by the two legis- 
lative commissions appointed by No. 57 was actually imposed upon 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 271 

them by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was submitted to the people and 
accepted by over three million votes against about fifteen hundred. 

Refekences. Fournier, Napoleon, 1S3-187 ; Dickinson, Revo- 
lution and Reaction in Modern France, 36-41 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 
209-214 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 84-86 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, Ch. 
XIII ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Jlintoire Generale, IX, 5-12; Au- 
lard, Revolution Francaise, 704-711. 

Constitution of the French Republic. 
title l of the exercise of the rights of citizenship. 

1. The French Republic is one and indivisible. 

Its European territory is divided into departments and 
communal districts. 

2. Every man born and residing in France fully twenty- 
one years of age, who has caused his name to be inscribed 
upon the civic register of his communal district and has since 
lived for one year upon the soil of the Republic, is a French 
citizen. 

3. A foreigner becomes a French citizen when, after hav- 
ing reached the full age of twenty-one years and having de- 
clared his intention to settle in France, he has resided there 
for ten consecutive years. 

4. The title to French citizenship is lost : 
By naturaHzation in a foreign country > 

By the acceptance of appointments or pensions tendered 
by a foreign Government ; 

By affiliation with any foreign corporation which may 
imply distinctions of birth; 

By condemnation to afflictive or infamous punishments. 

5. The exercise of the rights of French citizenship is sus- 
pended by the state of bankruptcy or of direct inheritance, 
with gratuitous title, to the succession, in whole or in part, 
of a bankrupt; 

By the condition of domestic service for wages either for 
a person or a household ; 

By the condition of judicial interdiction, of accusation, or 
of contempt of court. 

6. In order to exercise rights of citizenship in a com- 
munal district, it is necessary to have acquired domicile there 
by one year of residence and not to have lost it by one year 
of absence. 



272 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 



7. The citizens of each communal district designate by 
their votes those among them whom they beheve the most fit 
to conduct pubhc affairs. Thus the resuh is a Hst of the trust- 
worthy, containing a number of names equal to one-tenth of 
the number of citizens having the right to co-operate there. 
It is from this first communal list that the public functionar- 
ies of the district must be taken. 

8. The citizens included in the communal lists of a de- 
partment designate likewise a tenth of themselves. Thus there 
results a second list, known as the departmental list, from 
which the public functionaries of the department must be 
taken. 

9. The citizens comprised in the departmental list desig- 
nate in like manner a tenth of themselves : thus there results 
a third list which comprises the citizens of that department 
eligible to the national public functions, 

10. The citizens who have the right to co-ooerate in the 
formation of one of the lists mentioned in the three preceding 
articles, are called upon every three years to provide for re- 
placing those of the enrolled who have died or are absent for 
any other cause than the exercise of a public function. 

11. They can, at the same time, remove from the lists the 
enrolled whom they judge unfit to remain there, and replace 
them by other citizens in whom they have greater confidence. 

12. No one is removed from a list except by the votes of 
the majority of the citizens who have the right to co-operate 
in its formation. 

13. No one is removed from a list of eligibles by the mere 
fact that he is not kept upon another list of higher or superior 
degree. 

14. Inscription upon a list of eligibles is necessary only 
with reference to those of the public officers, for which that 
condition is expressly required by the constitution or the law. 
The lists of eligibles shall be formed for the first time during 
the course of the Year IX. 

Citizens who shall be selected for the first formation of the 
constituted authorities, shall form a necessary part of the first 
lists of eligibles. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 273 

TITLE II. OF THE CONSERVATIVE SENATE. 

15. The Conservative Senate is composed of eighty mem- 
bers, irremovable and for life, of at least forty years of age. 

For the formation of the Senate, there shall at first be 
chosen sixty members : that number shall be increased to 
sixty-two in the course of the Year VIII, to sixty-four in the 
Year IX, and it shall thus be gradually increased to eighty, by 
the addition of two members m each of the first ten years. 

16. Appointment to the place of senator is made by the 
Senate which chooses among three candidates presented, the 
first by the Corps-Legislatif, 'he second by the Tribunate, the 
third by the First Consul. 

It chooses between only two candidates if one of them is 
proposed by two of the three presenting authorities : it is 
required to admit that one who may be proposed at the same 
time by the three authorities. 

17. The First Consul, upon leaving his place, either by 
expiration of his ofiice or by resignation, necessarily and with 
perfect right becomes a senator. 

The other two Consuls, during the month following the 
expiration of their duties, can take seats in the Senate, but 
they are not required to make use of this right. 

They do not have it if they leave their consular duties by 
resignation. 

18. A senator is forever ineligible to any other public 
office. 

19. All the lists made in the departments, in virtue of 
article 9, are despatched to the Senate : they constitute the 
national list. 

20. It chooses from this list the legislators, the tribunes, 
the Consuls, the judges of cassation, and the commissioners 
of accounts. 

21. It sustains or annuls all the acts which are referred to 
it as unconstitutional by the Tribunate or the Government : 
the lists of eligibles are included among these acts. 

22. Fixed revenues from the national domains are set 
apart for the expenses of the Senate, The annual stipend 
of each of its members is taken from these revenues, and 
i.s equal to a twentieth of that of the First Consul. 

23. The sittings of the Senate are not public. 



274 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 



24. Citizens Sieyes and Roger-Dncos, retiring consuls, are 
appointed members of the Conservative Senate: they shall join 
to themselves the Second and Third Consuls appointed by the 
present Constitution. These four citizens appoint the majority 
of the Senate, v^rhich then completes itself and proceeds to the 
elections that are entrusted to it. 

TITLE III. OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

25. New laws shall be promulgated only when the pro- 
ject for them shall have been proposed by the Government, 
communicated to the Tribunate, and decreed by the Corps- 
Legislatif. 

26. The projects that the Government proposes are drawn 
up in articles. In any stage of the discussion of these pro- 
posals, the Government can withdraw them; it can reproduce 
them in modified form. 

27. The Tribunate is composed of one hundred members, 
at least twenty-five years of age ; they are renewed by a fifth 
each year and are indefinitely re-eligible as long as they remain 
upon the national list. 

28. The Tribunate discusses the projects for laws : it 
votes for their adoption or their rejection. 

It sends three orators taken from its own body, by 
whom the grounds for th-e view that it has taken upon each 
of these proposals are set forth and defended before the Corps- 
Legislatif. 

It refers to the Senate, on account of unconstitutionality 
only, the lists of eligibles, the acts of the Corps-Legislatif and 
those of the Government. 

29. It expresses its opinion upon the laws made and to be 
made, the abuses to. be corrected, and the improvements to 
be undertaken in all parts of the public administration, but 
never upon civil or criminal matters pending before the trib- 
unals. 

The opinions that it expresses by virtue of the present article 
have no necessary consequence and do not compel any con- 
stituted authority to a deliberation. 

30. When the Tribunate adjourns, it can appoint a commis- 
sion of from ten to fifteen of its members, charged to convoke 
it if it deems expedient. 

31. The Corps-Legislatif is composed of three hundred 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 



275 



members of at least thirty years of age ; they are renewed 
each year by a fifth. 

It must always contain at least one member from each de- 
partment of the Republic. 

32. A member retiring from the Corps-Legislatif cannot 
re-enter it until after an interval of one year; but he can be 
immediately elected to any other public office, including that of 
tribune, if he is otherwise eligible to it. 

3S. The session of the Corps-Legislatif commences each 
year upon i Frimaire, and continues only four months ; it can 
be convoked in extraordinary session during the other eight 
months by the Government. 

34. The Corps-Legislatif makes a law by deciding through 
secret ballot, and without any discussion on the part of its 
members, upon the projects of law discussed before it by the 
orators of the Tribunate and the Government. 

35. The sittings of the Tribunate and those of the Corps- 
Legislatif are public; the number of spectators at either of 
them cannot exceed two hundred. 

36. The annual stipend of a tribune is fifteen thousand 
francs ; that of a legislator, ten thousand francs. 

37. Every decree of the Corps-Legislatif is promulgated by 
the First Consul the tenth day after its passage, unless within 
that period it has been referred to the Senate upon the ground 
of unconstitutionality. This recourse cannot be taken against 
promulgated laws. 

38. The first renewal of the Corps-Legislatif and of the 
Tribunate shall take place only in the course of the Year X. 

TITLE IV. OF THE GOVERNMENT, 

39. The Government is confided to three Consuls appointed 
for ten years and indefinitely re-eligible. 

Each of them is elected individually with the distinguishing 
title of First, Second or Third Consul. 

The Constitution appoints as First Consul, Citizen Bona- 
parte, former Provisional Consul; as Second Consul, Citizen 
Cambaceres, former Minister of Justice; and as Third Con- 
sul, Citizen Lebrun, former member of the Commission of the 
Council of Ancients. 

For this time the Third Consul is appointed only for five 
years. 



2; 6 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 

40. The First Consul has special duties and prerogatives 
in which he is temporarily replaced by one of his colleagues, 
when there is need. 

41. The First Consul promulgates the laws ; he appoints 
and dismisses at will the members of the Council of State, 
tne ministers, the ambassadors and other foreign agents of 
high rank, the officers of the army and the navy, the members 
of the local administrations, and the commissioners of the 
Government before the tribunals. He apponits all criminal 
and civil judges, other than the justices of the peace and the 
judges of cassation, without power to remove them. 

42. In the other acts of the Government, the Second and 
Third Consuls have a consultative voice: they sign the register 
of these acts in order to attest their presence ; and if they wish, 
they there record their opinions ; after that the decision .of the 
First Consul suffices. 

43. The stipend of the First Consul shall be five hundred 
thousand francs in the Year YIII. The stipend of each of the 
other two Consuls is equal to three-tenths of that of the First 
Consul. 

44. The Government proposes the laws and makes the reg- 
ulations necessary to secure their execution. 

45. The Government controls the receipts and expenses of 
the State in conformity with the annual law which fixes the 
amount of both of them ; it superintends the coinage of money, 
of which the law alone orders the emission and fixes the de- 
nomination, weight, and stamp. 

46. If the Government is informed that some conspiracy is 
laid against the state, it can issue decrees of apprehension and 
arrest against the persons who are supposed to be the authors 
or accomplices of it; but if, within a period of ten days after 
their arrest, they are not set at liberty or put upon trial, the 
minister who signed the decree has committed the crime of 
arbitrary imprisonment. 

47. The Government provides for the internal security and 
the external defence of the State ; it distributes the land and 
sea forces and controls their direction. 

48. The active National Guard is subject to the rules of the 
public administration: the reserve National Guard is subject 
only to the law. 



H. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 



277 



49. The Government has charge of the foreign political 
relations, conducts negotiations, makes preliminary stipula- 
tions, signs and causes to be signed and concluded all treaties 
of peace and alliance, truce, neutrality, commerce, and other 
conventions. 

50. Declarations of war and treaties of peace, alliance, and 
commerce are proposed, discussed, decreed, and promulgated 
as are the laws. 

But the discussions and deliberations upon these matters, 
in the Tribunate as well as in the Corps-Legislatif, take place 
in secret committee when the Government demands it. 

51. The secret articles of a treaty cannot be destructive of 
the open articles. 

52. Under the direction of the Consuls, a Council of State 
is charged with drawing up projects of law and regulations of 
public administration, and with the settlement of difficulties 
which arise in administrative matters. 

53. The orators charged to take the word, in the name of 
the Government, before the Corps-Legislatif, are always taken 
from among the members of the Council of State. 

These orators are never sent to the number of more than 
three for the defence of a single project of law. 

54. The ministers procure the execution of the laws and 
regulations of public administration. 

55. No edict of the Government can have effect unless it is 
signed by a minister. 

56. One of the ministers is especially charged with the ad- 
ministration of the public treasury: he provides for the secur- 
ity of the receipts, and orders the transfer of funds and the 
payments authorised by law. He cannot make any payment 
except in virtue of: ist, a law, and to the amount of the funds 
which it has fixed for that kind of expenses ; 2d, an order of the 
Government ; 3d, a warrant signed by a minister. 

57. The detailed accounts of the expenses of each minister, 
signed and certified by him, are made public. 

58. The Government can select or retain as Councillors of 
State and as Ministers, only the citizens whose names are en- 
rolled upon the national list. 

59. The local administrations established either for each 
communal district or for more extended portions of territory 



278 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 

are subordinate to the ministers. No one can become or re- 
main a member of these administrations unless he is placed or 
kept upon one of the lists mentioned in articles 7 and 8. 

TITLE V. OF THE TRIBUNALS. 

60. Each communal district has one or more justices of the 
peace, elected directly by the citizens for three years. 

Their principal duty consists in conciliating the parties, 
whom they urge, in case of non-conciliation, to get judgment 
by arbitrators. 

61. In civil matters there are tribunals of first instance and 
tribunals of appeal. The law determines tho organization of 
each of them, their competency, and the territory forming the 
jurisdiction of each. 

62. In criminal matters involving afflictive or ignominious 
punishments, a first jury accepts or rejects the accusation: if 
it is accepted, a second jury passes upon the facts, and the 
judges forming a criminal tribunal impose the penalty. Their 
judgment is without appeal. 

63. The duty of public prosecution before a criminal trib- 
unal is performed by the commissioner of the Government. 

64. Crimes that do not involve afflictive or ignominious 
punishments are tried by tribunals of correctional police, sub- 
ject to appeal to the criminal tribunals. 

65. There is for the whole Republic a Tribunal of Cassa- 
tion, which passes upon the appeals in cassation against the 
judgments rendered in the last resort by the tribunals, upon 
applications for the removal from one tribunal to another on 
account of legitimate suspicion or public security, and upon 
complaints of prejudice against a whole tribunal. 

66. The Tribunal of Cassation does not take cognizance of 
the matter of actions ; but it quashes the judgments rendered 
upon proceedings in which the forms have been violated, or 
which contain some express contravention of the law ; and 
it sends back the matter of the action to the tribunal which 
ought to have jurisdiction therein, 

67. The judges composing the tribunals of first instance 
and the commissioners of the Government assigned to these 
tribunals, are taken from the communal list or the department- 
al list. 

The judges constituting the tribunals of appeal and the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 279 

commissioners placed with them are taken from the depart- 
mental list. 

The judges composing the Tribunal of Cassation and the 
commissioners assigned to that tribunal, are taken from the 
national list. 

68. The judges, other than the justices of the peace, keep 
their offices for life unless they should be condemned to for- 
feiture or should not be kept upon the lists of eligibles. 

TITLE VI. OF THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PUBLIC 
FUNCTIONARIES. 

69. The positions of members of the Senate, Corps-Legis- 
latif, Tribunate, and those of the Consuls and the Councillors of 
State do not give occasion for any responsibility. 

70. Personal crimes involving afflictive or ignominious 
punishments, committed by a member of the Senate, Tribunate, 
Corps-Legislatif, or Council of State, are prosecuted before the 
ordinary tribunals only after a decision of the body to which 
the accused belongs has authorised that prosecution. 

71. Ministers accused of private crimes involving afflictive 
or ignominious punishment are considered as members of the 
Council of State. 

72. The ministers are responsible: ist, for every act of the 
Government signed by them and declared unconstitutional by 
the Senate; 2d, for the non-execution of the laws and regula- 
tions of the public administration; 3d, for the special orders 
which they have given, if these orders are contrary to the con- 
stitution, the laws, or the regulations. 

73. In the case of the preceding article, the Tribunate ac- 
cuses the minister by an act upon which the Corps-Legislatif 
deliberates in the usual forms, after having heard or summoned 
the accused. The minister placed on trial by a decree of the 
Corps-Legislatif is tried by a high court, without appeal and 
without recourse in cassation. 

The high court is composed of judges and jurors. The 
judges are chosen by the Tribunal of Cassation and from its 
own body; the jurors are taken from the national list: the 
whole following the forms which the law determines. 

74. Civil and criminal judges are prosecuted for crimes 
connected with their duties before the tribunals to which that 
of cassation sends them, after having annulled their acts. 



28o CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 

75. The agents of the Government, other than the min- 
isters, can be prosecuted for acts relating to their duties only 
in virtue oi a decision of the Council of State; in that case 
the prosecution takes place before the ordinary tribunals. 

TITLE VII. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

76. The house of every person dwelling upon French soil 
is an inviolable asylum. 

During the night no one has the right to enter it except in 
case of fire, inundation, or of a call coming from the interior 
of the house. 

During the day it can be entered for a special purpose, de- 
termined either by law or by an order issued by a public au- 
thority. 

yy. In order that the instrument which orders the arrest 
of a person may be executed, it is necessary: ist, that it set 
forth explicitly the ground for the arrest and the law in execu- 
tion of which it is ordered ; 2d, that it be issued by an official 
to whom the law has explicitly given that power ; 3d, that it be 
made known to the person arrested and that he be provided 
with a copy of it. 

78. A warden or jailer cannot receive or detain any per- 
son except after having copied upon his register the docu- 
ment which orders the arrest: this document must be a war- 
rant given in the forms prescribed by the preceding article, 
or an order of arrest, or a decree of accusation, or a judgment. 

79. Every warden or jailer is required, without any or- 
der being able to dispense therewith, to present the arrested 
person to the civil officer having in charge the police of the 
prison, Whenever he shall be required to do so by that officer. 

80. The production of the arrested person cannot be re- 
fused to his kinsmen and friends bearing the order of the civil 
officer, who shall always be required to grant it, unless the 
warden or jailer presents an order of the judge to keep the 
person in secret. 

81. All those who, not having received from the law the 
power to make arrests, shall cause, sign or execute the arrest 
of any person ; all those who, even in cases of arrests autho-- 
ised by law, shall receive or retain the arrested person in a 
place of confinement not publicly and legally designated as 
such- and all the wardens or jailers who shall contravene the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII 28T 

provisions of the three preceding articles, shall be guilty of 
the crime of arbitrary imprisonment. 

82. All severities employed in arrests, imprisonments or 
executions, other than those authorised by the laws, are 
crimes. 

83. Any person has the right to present individual peti- 
tions to any constituted authority, and especially to the Trib- 
unate. 

84. The public force is essentially obedient; no armed 
body can deliberate. 

85. Military offences are subject to special tribunals and 
to special forms of trial. 

86. The French nation declares that pensions shall be 
granted to all soldiers wounded in the defence of the father- 
land, as well as to the widows and children of soldiers dying 
upon the battle field or from the effects of their wounds. 

87. National rewards shall be conferred upon the war- 
riors who shall have rendered distinguished services in fight- 
ing for the Republic. 

88. A National Institute is charged with the collection of 
the discoveries and the improvement of the sciences and the 
arts. 

89. A commission of national book-keeping regulates and 
verifies the accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the 
Republic. This commission is composed of seven members 
chosen by the Senate from the national list. 

90. A constituted body can deliberate only in a sitting 
when at least two-thirds of the members are present. 

91. The form of government of the French colonies is 
determined by special laws. 

92. In case of rebellion by armed force or of disturbances 
that threaten the security of the State, the law can suspend 
in the places and for the time which it determines, the absolute 
authority of the Constitution. 

This suspension can be declared provisionally, in the same 
cases, by an order of the Government, the Corps-Legislatif 
being on vacation, provided that this body be convoked within 
the shortest possible time by an article of the same order. 

93. The French nation declares that in any case it will 
not permit the return of the French, who, having abandonefl 



282 ORDER SUPPRESSING NEWSPAPERS 

their fatherland since July 14, 1789, are not included in the 
exceptions allowed by the laws made against the fimigres ; it 
forbids any new exception upon this matter. 

The goods of the Emigres are irrevocably acquired for the 
profit of the Republic. 

94. The French nation declares that after a legally con- 
summated sale of national lands, whatever be the cause there- 
of, the lawful purchaser cannot be dispossessed thereof, reserv- 
ing to third claimants, if there is need, indemnification by the 
Public Treasury. 

95. The present Constitution shall be offered immediately 
for the acceptance of the French people. 



59. Order for Suppressing the Newspapers. 

January 17, 1800 (27 Nivose, Year VIII). iloniteur, Janu- 
ary 19, 1800 (29 Niv6se, Year VIII). 

Shortly after the Constitution of the Year VIII went into effect 
the First Consul began a series of vigorous measures against pos- 
sible opposition to his rule. This document is typical of the se- 
ries. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon^ 238 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 
96 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, IX, 15-16 ; Aulard, 

Revolution Francaise, 714-716. 

The Consuls of the Republic, considering that a part of the 
newspapers which are printed in the department of the Seine 
are instruments in the hands of the enemies of the Republic ; 
that the government is particularly charged by the French peo- 
ple to look after their security, orders as follows : 

1. The minister of police shall permit to be printed, pub- 
lished, and circulated during the whole course of the war only 
the following newspapers: . . . [Here follow the names 
of thirteen newspapers], and newspapers devoted exclusively 
to science, arts, literature, commerce, announcements and no- 
tices. 

2. The minister of the general police shall immediately 
make a report upon all the newspapers that are printed in 
the other departments. 

3. The minister of the general police shall see that no new 



ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM LAW 28} 

newspaper be printed in the department of the Seine, 3S well 
as in all the other departments of the Republic. 

4. The proprietors and editors of the newspapers pre- 
served by the present order shall present themselves to the min- 
ister of the police in order to attest their character as French 
citizens, their residences and signatures, and they shall promise 
fidelity to the constitution. 

5. All newspapers which shall insert articles opposed to 
the respect that is due to the social compact, to the sover- 
eignty of the people and the glory of the armies, or which 
shall publish invectives against the governments and nations 
who are the friends or allies of the Republic, even when these 
articles may be extracts from foreign periodicals, shall be 
immediately suppressed. 

6. The minister of the general police is charged with the 
execution of the present order, which shall be inserted in the 
Bulletin of the Laws. 



60. Law for Reorganizing the Administrative System. 

February 17, 1800 (28 Pluviose, Year VIII). Duvergier, Lois, 
XII, 78-116. 

This was a sort of organic act upon the administrative system. 
It deserves careful attention for three reasons: (1) the system here 
established has been one of the most substantial of Napoleon's in- 
stitutions, existing to the present day with but little change ; (2) 
under all Pi*ench governments the administrative system is one of 
the most important features; (3) political scientists are now giv- 
ing more attention to administration than ever before. This doc- 
ument may be profitably compared with No. 7. 

Refeeences. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 41-42 ; Fournier, 'Napoleon, 223-225 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 
246-249 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 139-140 : Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, 436- 
441 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, IX, 16-18 ; Aulard, 
Revolution Francaise, 716-719. 



TITLE I. DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY. 

I. The European territory of the Republic shall be divided 
into departments and communal districts, in conformity with 
the table annexed to the present law. [This table made but one 
change in the existing departments.] 



284 ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM LATV 

TITLE II. ADMINISTRATION. 

Section I. Department administration. 

2. There shall be in each department a prefect, a council 
of prefecture, and a department general council, which shall 
discharge the functions now performed by the administrations 
and department commissioners. 

[The remainder of the article provides for the number of 
members in the councils of prefecture and the department gen- 
eral councils. The former have three, four, or five members ; 
the latter have sixteen, twenty, or twenty-four members.] 

3. The prefect alone shall be charged with the adminis- 
tration. 

4. The council of prefecture shall pronounce : 

Upon the requests of individuals seeking to obtain the dis- 
charge or the reduction of their share of the direct taxes; 

Upon disputes which may arise betweeen the contractors 
for public works and the administration over the meaning 
or execution of articles in their contracts ; 

Upon the claims of individuals who shall complain of 
injuries and damages proceeding from the personal acts of 
the contractors and not the acts of the administration; 

Upon requests and contests over indemnities due to indi- 
viduals by reason of lands taken or excavated for the making 
of roads, canals, and other public works ; 

Upon disputes which may arise in the matter of the 
great highway commission ; 

Upon the requests which shall be presented by city, town 
or village communities to be authorised to litisate; 

Finally, upon litigation over the national lands. 

5. AVhen the prefect shall attend the council of prefecture, 
he shall preside; in case of equal division, he shall have the 
casting-vote. 

6. The department general council shall meet each year : 
the time of its meeting shall be determined by the Govern- 
ment; the duration of its session cannot exceed fifteen days. 

It shall appoint one of its members for president, another 
for secretary. 

It shall make the division of the direct taxes among the 
communal districts of the department. 



ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM LAW 285 

It shall decide upon the requests for reductions made by 
the councils of the districts, cities, towns, and villages. 

It shall determine, within the limits fixed by the law, the 
number of additional centimes, the imposition of which shall 
be requested for the expenses of the department. 

It shall hear the annual account which the prefect shall 
render of the employment of the additional centimes which 
shall have been set aside for these expenses. 

It shall express its opinion upon the condition and the 
needs of the department and shall address it to the minister of 
the interior. 

7. A general secretary for the prefecture shall have the 
custody of the papers and shall sign the documents. 

Section 11. Communal administration. 

8. In each communal district there shall be a sub-prefect 
and a district council composed of eleven members. 

9. The sub-prefect shall discharge the functions now per- 
formed by the municipal administrations, and the cantonal 
commissioners, with the exception of those which are as- 
signed hereafter to the district council and the municipalities. 

10. The district council shall meet each year : the time 
of its meeting shall be determined by the Government ; the du- 
ration of its session cannot exceed fifteen days. 

It shall appoint one of its members for president and an- 
other for secretary. 

It shall make the division of the direct taxes among the 
cities, towns, and villages of the district. 

It shall give its opinion, with a statement of reasons, upon 
the requests for discharge which shall be formulated by the 
cities, towns and villages. 

It shall hear the annual account which the sub-prefect 
shall render of the employment of the additional centimes set 
apart for the expenses of the district. 

It shall express an opinion upon the condition and the 
needs of the district and shall address it to the prefect. 

11. In the communal districts in which the head-town of 
the department shall be situated, there shall not be any sub- 
prefect. 

Section III. Municipalities. 

12. In the cities, towns, and other places for which there 



286 ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM LAW 

are now a municipal agent and deputy, and whose popula- 
tion shall not exceed two thousand five hundred inhabitants, 
there shall be a mayor and a deputy; in the cities or towns 
of two thousand five hundred to five thousand inhabitants, 
a mayor and two deputies ; in the cities of five thousand to 
ten thousand inhabitants, a mayor, two deputies, and a com- 
missioner of police ; in the cities whose population shall ex- 
ceed ten thousand inhabitants, besides the mayor, two dep- 
uties and a commissioner of police, there shall be a deputy 
for each twenty thousand inhabitants in excess and a com- 
missioner for each ten thousand in excess. 

13. The mayors and deputies shall discharge the admin- 
istrative functions now performed by the municipal agent 
and the deputy: in relation to the police and the civil state 
they shall discharge the functions now performed by the mu- 
nicipal administrations of the canton, the municipal agents, 
and the deputies. 

14. In the cities of one hundred thousand inhabitants 
and upwards, there shall be a mayor and a deputy in the 
place of each municipal administration; there shall be in 
addition a commissioner-general of police, to whom the com- 
missioners of police shall be subordinate, and who shall be 
subordinate to the prefect : nevertheless, he shall execute the 
orders which he shall receive directly from the minister in 
charge of the police. 

15. There shall be a municipal council in each city, town, 
or other place for which there is now a municipal agent and a 
deputy. 

The number of its members shall be ten in the places 
whose population does not exceed two thousand five hun- 
dred inhabitants ; twenty, in those in which it does not exceed 
five thousand; thirty, in those in which the population is 
more numerous. 

This council shall meet each year on 15 Pluviose and 
can remain in session fifteen days. 

It can be assembled extraordinarily by order of the pre- 
fect. 

It shall hear and can discuss the account of the mu- 
nicipal receipts and expenditures which shall be rendered by 



ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM LAW 287 

the mayor to the sub-prefect, who shall determine it defini- 
tively. 

It shall control the division of the common woods, pas- 
tures, harvests, and fruits. 

It shall regulate the division of labor necessary for the 
maintenance and repair of the property which is under the 
control of the inhabitants. 

It shall deliberate upon the particular and local needs of 
the municipality, the loans, the octrois or taxes of additional 
centimes which may be necessary in order to supply these 
needs, and the lawsuits which it shall he expedient to insti- 
tute or sustain for the exercise and preservation of the com- 
mon rights. 

16. At Paris, in each of the municipal districts, a mayor 
and two deputies shall be charged with the administrative 
part and with the functions relative to the civil state. 

A prefect of police shall be charged with what concerns 
the police and shall have under his orders commissioners dis- 
tributed in the twelve municipalities. 

17. At Paris the department council shall discharge the 
functions of municipal council. 

Section IV. Of the appointments. 

18. The First Consul shall appoint the prefects, the coun- 
cillors of prefecture, the members of the general councils of 
the departments, the general secretary for the prefecture, the 
sub-prefects, the members of the district councils, the mayors 
and deputies of the cities of more than five thousand inhab- 
itants, the commissioners-general of police and prefects of 
police in the cities in which they shall be established. 

19. The members of the general councils of departments 
and those of the councils of the communal districts shall be 
appointed for three years : they can be continued- 

20. The prefects shall appoint and can suspend from their 
functions the members of the municipal councils ; they shall 
appoint and can suspend the mayors and deputies in cities 
whose population is less than five thousand inhabitants. The 
members of the municipal councils shall be appointed for three 
years : they can be continued. 

Section V, Of the salaries. 

21. In the cities whose population does not exceed fifteen 



288 JUDICIAL SYSTEM LAW 

thousand inhabitants, the salary of the prefect shall be eight 
thousand francs; 

In those of fifteen to thirty thousand inhabitants, it shall 
be twelve thousand francs ; 

In those of thirty to forty-five thousand inhabitants, it 
shall be sixteen thousand francs ; 

In those of forty-five thousand to one hundred thousand, 
it shall be twenty thousand francs ; 

In those of one hundred thousand and upwards, twenty- 
four thousand francs. 

At Paris it shall be thirty thousand francs. 

22. The salary of the councillors for the prefecture shall 
be in each department one-tenth of that of the prefect; it 
shall be twelve hundred francs in the departments in which 
the salary of the prefect shall be only eight thousand francs. 

23. The salary of the sub-prefects in the cities whose pop- 
ulation shall exceed twenty thousand inhabitants shall be four 
thousand francs, and three thousand francs in the others. 

24. The Government shall fix for each department the 
amount of the office expenses which shall be used for the ad- 
ministration. 

[The table of the departments and communal districts is 
omitted.] 



61. Law for Reorganizing the Judicial System. 

March 18, 1800 (27 Ventose, Ye^r VIII). Duvergier, Lois, 
XII, 151-163. 

By this measure Napoleon introduced some important changes 
in the judicial system of France ,and gave it substantially the form 
which it has borne ever since. 

References. Dickinson's Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 44-45 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, I, 441-446. 

For an adequate idea of what Napoleon did in the way of ju- 
dicial reform his codification of French law must also be noticed. 
This cannot be shown here by documents, but some of the follow- 
ing accounts of it should be read : Dickinson, Revolution and Re- 
action in Modern France, 46: Fyfife, Modern Europe, I, 258-260 
(Popular ed., 173-175); Fournier, Napoleon, 230-232; Rose, Na- 
poleon, 1, 265-271 ; Sloane. Napoleon, II, 142-144 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 241-248. 



JUDICIAL SYSTEM LAW 289 

TITLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

1. The department civil and criminal tribunals and the 
tribunals of correctional police are suppressed ; nevertheless, 
they shall continue their functions until the installation of the 
new tribunals. 

2. There is nothing changed, however, in the laws con- 
cerning the justices of the peace and the commercial judges, 
v/ho shall continue to exercise their functions until it has 
been otherwise ordered. 

TITLE IL OF THE TRIBUNALS OF FIRST INSTANCE. 

6. There shall be established a tribunal of first instance 
per communal district. 

7. The tribunals of first instance shall have original and 
final jurisdiction of civil matters in the cases determined by 
law; they shall likewise have jurisdiction in matters of cor- 
rectional police; they shall pass upon appeals from the judg- 
ments rendered in the first instance by the justices of the 
peace. 

TITLE III. OF THE TRIBUNALS OF APPEAL. 

21. There shall be established twenty-nine tribunals of 
appeal, in the places and for the departments as follows : . . . 

22. The tribunals of appeal shall decide upon appeals from 
judgments in first instance rendered in civil matters by the 
district tribunals and upon appeals from judgments of first 
instance rendered by the commercial tribunals. 

TITLE IV, OF THE CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS. 

32. There shall be a criminal tribunal in each department. 

23. The criminal tribunals sh-i]l have jurisdiction, as in 
the past, over all criminal cases ; they shall decide upon the 
appeals from the judgments rendered by the tribunals of the 
£rst instance in matters of correctional police. 

TITLE VI. OF THE TRIBUNAL OF CASSATION. 

58. The tribunal of cassation shall sit at Paris in the place 
determined by the Government. 
10 



290 TREATY OF LUXEVILLE 

It shall be composed of forty-eight judges. 

60. The tribunal shall be divided into three sections, each 
of sixteen judges. 

The first shall decide upon the admission or rejection of 
petitions in cassation or as to prejudice, and definitivel}^ upon 
the applications as to the rulings of judges and as to transfers 
from one tribunal to another. 

The second shall pronounce definitively upon applications in 
cassation or as to prejudice, when the petitions shall have 
been accepted. 

The third shall pronounce upon the applications in cas- 
sation in criminal, correctional and police matters, unless 
there should be need of prior judgment of admission. 

76. Besides the functions given to the tribunal of cassa- 
tion by article 65 of the constitution, it shall pronounce upon 
the rulings of the judges when conflict arises between several 
tribunals of appeal or between several tribunals of first in- 
stance not resorting to the same tribunal of appeal. 

J']. There is no opportunity for cassation against the 
judgments in the last resort of the justices of the peace, ex- 
cept for cause of incompetency or of excess of power, nor 
against the judgments of military and naval tribunals, except, 
likewise, for cause of incompetency or excess of power pro- 
posed by a non-military citizen, or [one] assimilated to the mil- 
itary by the laws, on account of his functions. 



62. Treaty of Luneville. 

February 9, 1801 (20 Pluviose. Year IX). De Clercq, Traites, 
I, 424-429. Translation, James Harvey Robinson, Univcrsitij of 
Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints. 

This treaty terminated the war with Austria which had been 
renewed while Napoleon Bonaparte was in Egypt. It should be 
compared with No. 55. 

Referexces. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 225-226 (Popular ed., 
152) : Fournier, Napoleon, 206-208; SJoane, Napoleon, II, 125-126; 
Lavisse and Rambaud, Bistoire Gcnerale, IX, 51-52. 



TREATY OF LUNEVILLE 29I 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48 ; Lane-Poole, His- 
torical Atlas of Modern Europe, XI ; Schrader, Atlas de Geogra- 
phie Historique, 48. 

His Majesty the Emperor, the King of Hungary and of 
Bohemia, and the First Consul of the French Republic, in 
the name of the French people, induced by a common desire 
to put an end to the evils of war, have resolved to proceed 
to the conclusion of a definitive treaty of ptace and amity. 
His said Imperial and Royal Majesty desiring no less sincerely 
to extend the benefits of peace to the German Empire, and 
the existing conditions not affording the necessary time for 
consulting the Empire, or permitting its representatives to 
take part in the negotiations, has resolved, in view of the 
concessions made by the Deputation of the Empire at the 
recent Congress of Rastadt, to treat in the name of the Ger- 
man Union, as has happened before under similar circum- 
stances. 



1. Peace, amity and a good understanding shall hereafter 
exist forever between His Majesty the Emperor, King of 
Hungary and of Bohemia, acting both in his own name and in 
that of the German Empire, and the French Republic ; His 
Majesty agreeing that the said Empire shall ratify the present 
treaty in due form. The contracting parties shall make every 
effort to maintain a perfect agreement between themselves, 
and to prevent the commission of any acts of hostility by land 
or sea upon any ground or pretence whatsoever; striving in 
every way to maintain the concord thus happily re-established. 
No aid or protection shall be given either directly or indirectly 
to any one attempting to injure either of the contracting par- 
ties. 

2. The cession of the former Belgian Provinces to the 
French Republic, stipulated in Article 3 of the Treaty of 
Campo Formio, is renewed here in the most solemn manner. 
His Majesty the Emperor and King therefore renounces for 
himself and his successors, as well on his own part as on that 
of the German Empire, all right and title to the above speci- 
fied provinces, which shall be held in perpetuity by the French 
Republic in full sovereignty and proprietary right, together 



292 



TREATY OF LUNEVILLE 



with all territorial possessions belonging to them. His Im- 
perial and Royal Majesty cedes likewise to the French Re- 
public, with the due consent of the Empire: i. The County 
of Falkenstein with its dependencies ; 2. The Frickthal and all 
the territory upon the left bank of the Rhine between Zurzach 
and Basle belonging to the House of Austria; the French Re- 
public reserving the future cession of this district to the Hel- 
vetian Republic. 

3. Moreover, in confirmation of Article 6 of the Treaty 
of Campo Formio, His Majesty the Emperor and King shall 
possess in full sovereignty and proprietary right the countries 
enumerated below, to wit: Istria, Dalmatia and the Islands of 
the Adriatic, formerly belonging to Venice, dependent upon 
them ; the Mouths of the Cattaro, the City of Venice, the La- 
gunes, and the territory included between the hereditary -States 
of His Majesty the Emperor and King, the Adriatic Sea and 
the Adige from the point where it leaves Tyrol to that where 
it flows into the Adriatic, the Thalweg of the Adige forming 
the boundary line. And since by this line the cities of Verona 
and Porto-Legnago are .separated into two parts, draw-bridges 
indicating the frontier shall be established in the middle of 
the bridges connecting the two parts of the said towns. 

4. Article 18 of the Treaty of Campo Formio is likewise 
renewed inasmuch as His Majesty the Emperor and King 
agrees to cede to the Duke of Modena, as an indemnity for 
the territory which this prince and his heirs possessed in 
Italy, the Breisgau, which he shall possess upon the same con- 
ditions as those upon which he held Modena. 

5. It is further agreed that His Royal Highness the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany shall renounce for himself, his successors or 
possible claimants, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and that part 
of the Island of Elba belonging to it, as well as all rights 
and titles resulting from the possession of the said states, 
v/hich shall hereafter be held in full sovereignty and propri- 
etary right by His Royal Highness the Infante Duke of Parma. 
The Grand Duke shall receive a complete and full indemnity 
in Germany for the loss of his state in Italy. 

6. His Majesty the Emperor and King, consents not only 
on his part but upon the part of the German Empire that the 



TREATY OF LUNEVILLE 293 

French Republic shall hereafter possess in full sovereignty and 
proprietary right the territory and domains lying on the left 
bank of the Rhine and forming a part of the German Empire, 
so that, in conformity with the concessions granted by the 
Deputation of the Empire at the Congress of Rastadt and 
approved by the Emperor, the Thalweg of the Rhine shall 
hereafter form the boundary between the French Republic and 
the German Empire from that point where the Rhine leaves 
Helvetian territory to the point where it reaches Batavian ter- 
ritory. In view of this the French Republic formally re- 
nounces all possessions whatsoever upon the right bank of 
the Rhine and agrees to restore to their owners the following 
places: Diisseldorf, Ehrenbreitstein, Philippsburg, the fortress 
of Cassel and other fortifications across from Mainz on the 
right bank of the stream, and the fortress of Kehl and Alt 
Breisach, under the express provision that these places and 
forts shall continue to exist in the condition in which they are 
left at the time of the evacuation. 

7. Since in consequence of this cession made by the Em- 
pire to the French Republic various Princes and States of 
the Empire find themselves individually dispossessed in part 
or wholly of their territory, while the German Empire should 
collectively support the losses resulting from the stipulations 
of the present treaty, it is agreed between His Majesty the 
Emperor and King (both on his part and upon the part of 
the German Empire) and the French Republic that, in accord- 
ance with the principles laid down at the Congress of Rastadt, 
the Empire shall be bound to furnish the hereditary princes 
who have lost possessions upon the left bank of the Rhine an 
indemnity within the Empire, according to such arrangements 
as shall be determined later in accordance with the stipulations 
here made. 

11. The present treaty of peace ... is declared to be 
common to the Batavian, Helvetian, Cisalpine and Ligurian 
Republics. The contracting parties mutually guarantee the 
independence of the said republics and the freedom of the in- 
habitants of the said countries to adopt such form of govern- 
ment as they shall see fit. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor and King renounces for 



294 TREATY OF AMIENS 

himself and for his successors in favor of the Cisalpine Re- 
public all rights and titles depending upon such rights, which 
His Majesty might assert over the territories in Italy which 
he possessed before the war and which, according to the terms 
of Article 8 of the Treaty of Campo Formio, now form a 
part of the Cisalpine Republic which shall hold them in full 
sovereign and proprietary right together with all the territorial 
possessions dependent upon them. 

13. His Majesty the Emperor and King confirms both in 
his own name and in the name of the German Em.pire the 
sanction already given by the Treaty of Campo Formio to the 
union of the former Imperial Fiefs to the Ligurian Republic 
and renounces all claims and titles resulting from these claims 
upon the said fiefs. 



63. Treaty of Amiens. 

March 27, 1802. Hansard, Parliamentary History, XXXVI, 
558-563. 

As the result of this treaty France was left at peace with all 
Europe, for the first time in ten years. The peace, however, last- 
ed only fifteen months. A careful study of the document, with due 
attention to the situation of Europe at the time, should do much 
to show why the war was so soon renewed. Both the omissions of 
the document and the vasue character of some of its provisions 
call for attention. 

References. FyfEe, Modern Europe, I, 236-238 (Popular ed., 
159-160) ; ITournier, Napoleon, 214-220 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, Ch. 
XIV : Sloane, Napoleon, II, 135-186, 167-169 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, 
II, 129-148, 187-189 ; Lavisse and Rambaud. Histoire Qenerale, 
IX, 60-62. 

His majesty the king of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and the first consul of the French Re- 
public, in the name of the French people, being animated with 
an equal desire to put an end to the calamities of war, have 
laid the foundation of peace in the preliminary articles signed 
at London the ist of October, 1801 (ninth Vendemiaire, year 
ten) ; . . . 

I. There shall be peace, friendship and good understand- 



TREATY UF AMIENS 



295 



ing, between his majesty the king of the united kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, his heirs and successors, on the one 
part; and the French republic, his majesty the king of Spain, 
his heirs and successors, and the Batavian repubhc, on the 
other part. ... 

3. His Britannic majesty restores to the French repubhc 
and her allies, namely, his Catholic majesty and the Batavian 
republic, all the possessions and colonies which belonged to 
them respectively, and which had been occupied or conquered 
by the British forces in the course of the war, with the ex- 
ception of the island of Trinidad, and the Dutch possessions 
in the island of Ceylon. 

4. His Catholic majesty cedes and guarantees, in full 
right and sovereignty, to his Britannic majesty, the island of 
Trinidad. 

5. The Batavian republic cedes and guarantees, in full 
right and sovereignty, to his Britannic majesty, all the pos- 
sessions and establishments in the island of Ceylon, which 
belonged before the war to the republic of the United Prov- 
inces, or to their East India company. 

6. The Cape of Good Hope remains in full sovereignty to 
the Batavian republic, as it was before the war. 

7. The territories and possessions of her most faithful 
majesty [of Portugal] are maintained in their integrity, such 
as they were previous to the commencement of the war. . . . 

8. The territories, possessions and rights of the Ottoman 
Porte, are hereby maintained in their integrity, such as they 
were previous to the war. 

9. The republic of the Seven Islands is hereby acknowl- 
icdged. 

10. The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, shall be 
restored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, and shall be 
held by it upon the same conditions on which the order held 
them previous to the war, and under the following stipulations : 

4th. The forces of his Britannic majesty shall evacuate 
the island and its dependencies within three months after the 
exchange of ratifications, or sooner if it can be done. At 
that period the island shall be delivered up to the order in 



296 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 



the state in which it now is, provided that the grand master, 
or commissioners fully empowered, according to the statutes 
of the order, be upon the island to receive possession, and 
that the force to be furnished by his Sicilian majesty, as here- 
after stipulated, be arrived there. 

18. The branch of the House of Nassau, which was es- 
tablished in the republic, formerly called the republic of the 
United Provinces, and now the Batavian republic, having 
suffered losses there, as well in private property as in con- 
sequence of the change of constitution adopted in that coun- 
try, an adequate compensation shall be procured for the said 
branch of the House of Nassau for the said losses. 

19. The present definitive treaty of peace is declared 
common to the Sublime Ottoman Porte, the ally of His Brit- 
annic Majesty and the Sublime Porte shall be invited to 
transmit its act of accession thereto in the shortest delay 
possible. 



64. Documents upon Napoleon and the Reorganization of 
Religion. 

At the beginning of the Consulate the religious institutions of 
France were in a state of hopeless confusion. These documents 
show the general character of the reorganization effected by Na- 
poleon. Document A is the compact between France and the Pa- 
pacy which still controls the position of the Roman Catholic 
Church in France. The two dates ascribed to it represent those 
of its signature by the French and papal envoys and of its pro- 
mulgation in France. Document B was purely a French legislative 
act ; the consent of the Pope was neither asked nor given. Docu- 
ment D did for the two recognized Protestant sects what the other 
documents did for the Roman Catholic Church. In 1808 a similar 
arrangement was made for the Jews. 

References. FyfCe, Modern Europe, I, 260-265 (Popular ed., 
175-178) ; Fournier, Napoleon, II, 211-213 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 240- 
262 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 153-173 ; Wells. American Historical 
Association, Annual Report -for 1895, 469-485 ; Aulard, Revolution 
Francaise, Part IV, Ch. iii ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gcn- 
erale, IX, 255-273 ; Debidour, L'Eglise et VEtat, Part I, Ch. vi. 

A. The Concordat. September 10, 1801-April 8, 1802 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 



297 



(23 Fructidor, Year IX — 18 Germinal, Year X). Duvergier, 
Lois, XIII, 89-91. 

The First Consul of the French Republic and His Holiness 
the Sovereign Pontiff Pius VII have appointed as their re- 
spective plenipotentiaries : . . . 

Who, after the exchange of their respective full powers, 
have arranged the following convention : 

Convention between the French Government and 
His Holiness Pius VII. 

The Government of the French Republic recognizes that 
the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic religion is the religion of 
the great majority of French citizens. 

His Holiness likewise recognizes that this same religion has 
derived and in this moment again expects the greatest benefit 
and grandeur from the establishment of the Catholic worship 
in France and from the personal profession of it which the 
Consuls of the Republic make. 

In consequence, after this mutual recognition, as well for 
the benefit of religion as for the maintenance of internal tran- 
quality, they have agreed as follows : 

1. The Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion shall be 
freely exercised in France : its worship shall be public, and 
in conformity with the police regulations which the Govern- 
ment shall deem necessary for the public tranquility. 

2. A new circumscription of the French dioceses shall be 
made by the Holy See in concert with the Government. 

3. His Holiness shall declare to the titular French bish- 
ops that he with firm confidence expects from them, for 
the benefit of peace and unity, every sort of sacrifice, even that 
of their sees. 

After this exhortation, if they should refuse this sacrifice 
required for the welfare of the Church (a refusal which His 
Holiness, nevertheless, does not expect), provision shall be 
made for the government of the bishoprics of the new cir- 
cumscription by new titularies in the following manner : 

4. The First Consul of the Republic shall make appoint- 
ments, within the three months which shall follow the publica- 
tion of the bull of His Holiness, to the archbishoprics and 
bishoprics of the new circum.scription. His Holiness shall 



298 NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 

confer the canonical institution, following the forms estab- 
lished in relation to France before the change of Government. 

5. The nominations to the bishoprics which shall be va- 
cant in the future shall likewise be made by the First Consul, 
and the canonical institution shall be given by the Holy See. 
in conformity with the preceding article. 

6. Before entering upon their functions, the bishops shall 
take directly, at the hands of the First Consul, the oath of 
fidelity which was in use before the change of Government, 
expressed in the following terms : 

"I swear and promise to God, upon the Holy Scriptures, 
to remain in obedience and fidelity to the Government estab- 
lished by the constitution of the French Republic. I also 
promise not to have any intercourse, nor to assist by any 
counsel, nor to support any league, either within or without, 
which is inimical to the public tranquility; and if, within my 
diocese or elsewhere, I learn that anything to the prejudice of 
the State is being contrived, I will make it known to the 
Government." 

7. The ecclesiastics of the second rank shall take the same 
oath at the hands of the civil authorities designated by the 
Government. 

8. The following form of prayer shall be repeated at the 
end of divine service in all the Catholic churches of France : 
Dcmine, salvam fac Renipuhlicam ; Domine, salvos fac Consul- 
es. 

9. The bishops shall make a new circumscription of the 
parishes of their dioceses, which shall have effect only after 
the consent of the Government. 

10. The bishops shall appoint the cures. 

11. The bishops can have a chapter in their cathedrals 
and a seminary for their dioceses, without the Government 
being under obligation to endow them. 

12. All the metropolitan, cathedral, parochial and other 
non-alienated churches needed for worship shall be again 
placed at the disposal of the bishops. 

13. His Holiness, in the interest of peace and the happy 
re-establishment of the Catholic religion, declares that neither 
he nor his successors will disturb in any manner the pur- 
chasers of the alienated ecclesiastical estates, and that, in 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 



299 



consequence, the ownership of these same estates, the rights 
and revenues attached to them, shall be indefeasible in their 
hands and in those of their assigns. 

14. The Government shall settle ri suitable stipend upon 
the bishops and aires whose dioceses and parishes shall be 
included in the new circumscription. 

15. The Government shall likewise take measures in order 
that French Catholics, if they desire, may act in favor of 
church foundations. 

16. His Holiness recognizes in the First Consul of the 
French Republic the same rights and prerogatives which the 
old Government before it enjoyed. 

17. It is agreed between the contracting parties that in case 
any one of the successors of the present First Consul shall 
not be Catholic, the rights and prerogatives mentioned in the 
article above and the nomination to bishoprics shall be regu- 
lated, as regards him, by a new convention. 

The ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris within the 
space of forty days. 

Done at Paris, 26 Messidor, Year IX. 

B. Organic Articles for the Catholic Church. April 8, 
1802 (18 Germinal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 91-101. 

TITLE I. OF THE REGIME OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ITS RE- 
LATIONS WITH THE RIGHTS AND THE POLICE OF THE STATE. 

1. No bull, brief, rescript, decree, injunction, provision, 
signature serving as a provision, nor other documents from the 
court of Rome, even concerning individuals only, can be re- 
ceived, published, printed, or otherwise put into effect, with- 
out the authorisation of the Government. 

2. No person calling himself nuncio, legate, vicar or apos- 
tolic commissioner, or taking advantage of any other denom- 
ination can, without the same authorisation, exercise upon 
French soil or elsewhere any function relative to the affairs 
of the Galilean Church. 

3. The decrees of foreign synods, even those of general 
councils, cannot be published in France before the Government 
has examined their form, their conformity with the laws, 
rights, and liberties of the French Republic, and everything 



300 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 



which, in their publication, may alter or affect the public tran- 
rjuility. 

4. No national or metropolitan council, no diocesan synod, 
no deliberative assembly, shall take place without the express 
permission of the Government. 

5. All the ecclesiastical offices shall be gratuitous, saving 
the offerings which may be authorised and fixed by the regu- 
lations. 

6. There ishall be recourse to the Council of State in pvery 
case of breach of trust on the part of the superiors and other 
ecclesiastical persons. 

The cases of breach of trust are usurpation or excess of 
power, contravention of the laws and regulations of the Re- 
public, infraction of the rules sanctioned by the canons re- 
ceived in France, attack upon the liberties, privileges and cus- 
toms of the Galilean Church, and every undertaking or any 
proceeding which in the exercise of worship can compromise 
the honor of the citizens, disturb arbitrarily their consciences, 
or degenerate into oppression or injury against them or into 
public scandal. 

TITLE II. OF THE MINISTERS. 

Section I. General provisions. 

9. The Catholic worship shall be carried on under the di- 
rection of the archbishops and bishops in their dioceses, and 
under that of the cures in their parishes. 

10. Every privilege involving exemption from or attribu- 
tion of the episcopal jurisdiction is abolished. 

II. The archbishops and bishops shall be able, with the 
authorisation of the Government, to establish cathedral chap- 
ters and seminaries in their dioceses. All other ecclesiastical 
establishments are suppressed. 

12. The archbishops and bishops shall be free to add to 
their name the title of Citi::en or that of Monsiew. All other 
designations are forbidden. 

Section II. Of the archbishops or metropolitans. 

13. The archbishops shall consecrate and install their suf- 
fragans. In case of hindrance or of refusal on their part, they 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 301 

shall be acted for by the senior bishop of the metropolitan 
district. 



Section III. Of the bishops, the vicars general and the 
seminaries. 

16. No one can be appointed bishop before reaching thirty 
years of age, nor unless he is of French origin. 

18. The priest appointed by the First Consul shall institute 
proceedings in order to procure investiture from the Pope. 

He cannot exercise any function until the bull declaring 
his investiture has received the attestation of the Govern- 
ment and until he has personally taken the oath prescribed by 
the convention agreed to by the French Government and the 
Holy See. 

This oath shall be delivered to the First Consul ; there 
shall be a record of it drawn up by the Secretary of State. 

19. The bishops shall appoint and install the cures; never- 
theless, they shall not make known their appointment and 
they shall not give them the canonical investiture until after 
this appointment shall have been agreed to by the First Consul. 

20. They shall be required to reside in their dioceses; 
they cannot leave them, except with the permission of the First 
Consul. 

23. The bishops shall be charged with the organization o£ 
their seminaries, and the regulations for this organization 
shall be submitted to the approbation of the First Consul. 

24. Those who shall be chosen to give instruction in the 
seminaries shall subscribe to the declaration made by the 
clergy of France in 1682 and published in an edict of the 
same year; they shall consent to teach in them the doctrine 
contained therein, and the bishops shall address a copy in due 
form to the Councillor of State charged with all matters 
relating to worship. 

26. They shall not ordain any ecclesiastic, unless he proves 
that he has property producing an annual revenue of at least 
three hundred francs, that he has reached the age of twenty- 



302 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 



five years, and that he meets the qualifications required by the 
canons received in France. 

The bishops shall not make any ordinations until the 
number of persons to be ordained has been submitted to the 
Government and agreed to by it. 

Section IV. Of the cures. 

27. The cures shall enter upon their functions only after 
having taken at the hands of the prefect the oath prescribed 
by the convention agreed to by the Government and the- Holy 
See. A minute of this oath-taking shall be drawn up by the 
general secretary of the prefecture and collated copies of it 
shall be dehvered to them. 



29. They shall be required to reside in their parishes. 

32. No foreigner can be employed in the functions of the 
ecclesiastical ministry without the permission of the Govern- 
ment. 

S;^. All employment is. forbidden to every ecclesiastic, even 
French, who does not belong to any one diocese. 

Section V. Of the cathedral chapters, and the govern- 
ment of the dioceses during the vacancy of a see. 

35. The archbishops and bishops who shall desire to make 
use of the privilege which is given them to establish chapters 
shall not do it without having procured the authorisation of 
the Government, as well for the establishment itself as for 
the number and the choice of the ecclesiastics designated to 
constitute it. 

TITLE III. OF THE WORSHIP. 

39. There shall be only one liturgy and one catechism for 
all the Catholic churches of France. 

41. No religious festival, with the exception of the Sab- 
bath, can be established without the permission of the Gov- 
ernment. 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 303 

43. All the ecclesiastics shall be dressed in French fashion 
and in black. 

The bishops can add to this costume the pastoral cross 
and violet stockings. 

44. Family chapels and private oratories cannot be estab- 
lished without the express permission of the Government, 
granted upon the request of the bishop. 

45. In the cities in which there are temples set aside for 
different sects, no Catholic religious ceremony shall occur out- 
side of the edifices consecrated to the Catholic worship. 

46. A single temple can be consecrated to only a single 
worship. 

47. There shall be in the cathedrals and parish churches 
a place of distinction for Catholic persons who occupy the 
civil and military posts. 

48. The bishop shall co-operate with the prefect in order to 
regulate the manner of calling the faithful to divine service 
by the sound of the bells; no one can sound them for any 
other purpose without the permission of the local police. 

49. When the Government shall order public prayers the 
bishops shall co-operate with the prefect and the military com- 
mamdamt of the place as to the day, hour and manner of carry- 
ing into effect these orders. 

50. The formal addresses called sermons and those known 
under the name of stations of Advent and of Lent shall be 
given only by the priests who have received a special authori- 
sation for it from the bishop. 

51. The cures at the sermons of the parochial masses shall 
pray and cause prayer to be offered for the French Republic 
and for the Consuls. 

52. They shall not permit themselves in their teaching any 
direct or indirect inculpation either o5 individuals or of the 
other sects authorised in the State. 

53. They shall not make in the sermon any publication 
foreign to the exercise of worship, except those which shall 
be ordered by the Government. 

54. They shall give the nuptial benediction only to those 
who shall prove in good and due form that they have con- 
tracted marriage before the civil officer. 



304 NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 

56. In all religious and ecclesiastical documents the em- 
ployment of the equinoctial calendar, established by the laws 
o.f the Republic, shall be obligatory; the ddys shall be desig- 
nated by the names which they had in the solstitial calendar. 

57. The rest for the public functionaries shall be fixed 
upon Sunday. 

TITLE IV. OF THE CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE ARCHBISHOPRICS, 
BISHOPRICS, AND PARISHES ; OF THE EDIFICES INTENDED 
FOR WORSHIP AND OF THE STIPEND OF THE MINISTERS. ' 

Section I. Of the circumscription of the archbishoprics 
and bishoprics. 

58. There shall be in France ten archbishoprics or metro- 
politanates and fifty bishoprics. 

Section III. Of the compensation of the ministers, 

64. The stipend of the archbishops shall be fifteen thous- 
and francs. 

65. The stipend of the bishops shall be ten thousand francs. 

66. The cures shall be divided into two classes : 

The stipend of the cures of the first class shall be fixed at 
fifteen hundred francs and that of the cures of the second 
class at a thousand francs. 

68. The vicars and officiating priests shall be chosen from 
among the ecclesiastics pensioned in carrying into effect the 
laws of the Constituent Assembly. 

The amount of these pensions and the product of the offer- 
ings shall form their stipend. 

69. The bishops shall draw up projects for the regula- 
tions relative to the offerings which the ministers of the 
sect are authorised to receive for the administration of the 
sacraments. The projects for regulations drawn lip by the 
bishops cannot be published, nor otherwise put into effect, 
until after having been approved by the Government. 

70. Every ecclesiastic pensioned by the State shall be de- 
prived of his pension if he refuses, without legitimate cause^ 
the functions which shall be entrusted to him. 

72,. Endowments which have for their purpose the support 
of the ministers and the carrying on of worship shall consist 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 305 

only of revenues settled upon the State : they shall be ac- 
cepted by the diocesan bishop and can be carried out only with 
the authorisation of the Government. 

74. Immovables other than buildings intended for dwell- 
ings and the attendant gardens cannot be invested with ec- 
clesiastical titles, nor possessed by the ministers of the sect on 
account of their functions. 



C. The- Declaration of 1682. March 19, 1682. Debidour. 
L'Eglisse et I'Etat en France, 651-652. 

Many persons are striving in these times to subvert the de- 
crees of the Galilean Church and its liberties, which our an- 
cestors have supported with so much zeal, and to overthrow 
their foundations, which rest upon the holy canons and the 
tradition of the Fathers. Others, under pretence of defending 
them, are not afraid to excite an attack upon the primacy of 
Saint Peter and the Roman pontiffs, his successors, who were 
instituted by Jesus Christ, and the obedience which all Chris- 
tians owe them, and to diminish the majesty of the apostolic 
Holy See, which is worthy of respect b3^ all the nations in. 
which the true faith is taught and in which the unity of the 
Church is preserved. On the other hand, heretics are putting 
everything at work to make that authority, which maintains 
the peace of the Church, appear odious and intolerable to kings 
and peoples, and, by these attifices, to remove simple souls 
from the communion of the Church, their mother, and there- 
fore from that of Jesus Christ. — In order to remedy these in- 
conveniences, we, archbishops and bishops assembled at Paris 
by order of the King, representing with the other ecclesiastical 
deputies the Galilean Church, after mature deliberation, have 
decided that it is necessary to make the regulations and the 
declarations which follow : 

I. That Saint Peter and his successors, vicars of Jesus 
Christ, and even the whole Church have received authority 
from God only over things spiritual and which have to do with 
salvation, and not over things temporal and civil ; Jesus Christ 
himself tells us tliat His kingdom is not of this world, and, in 
another place, that it is necessary to rend\er to Caesar that' 
which belongs to Caesar, and to God that zvhich belongs to 



3o6 NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 

God. That is is necessary to hold to this precept of Saint 
Paul : that every person should he subject to the higher 
pozvers^ for there is no pozver zvhich does not come from God, 
and it is He zvho ordains those zvhicJi are upon earth; that is 
zvhy he zvho opposes the pozvers resists the order of God. In 
consequence, we declare that kings are not subject to any ec- 
clesiastical power by order of God, in things which have to 
do with the temporal, and that they cannot be deposed direct- 
ly or indirectly by the authority of the heads of the Church; 
that their subjects cannot be exempted from the' submission 
and obedience which are due to them, nor be dispensed from 
the oath of fidelity; that this doctrine, necessary for the public 
peace, and as advantageous to Church as to State, ought to be 
regarded as in conformity with the Holy Scriptures and with 
the tradition of the Fathers of the Church and with the 
example of the saints. 

2. That the plenitude of power which the apostolic Holy 
See and the successors of Saint Peter, vicars of Jesus Christ, 
have over things spiritual is such, nevertheless, that the de- 
crees of the holy oecumenical council of Constance, contained 
in sessions 4 and 5, approved by the apostolic Holy See and 
confirmed by the practice of all the Church and of the Roman 
pontiffs, and religiously observed of all time by the Galilean 
Church, remain in their force and vigor, and that the Church 
of France does not approve of the opinion of those who make 
attack upon these decrees or enfeeble them by saying that their 
authority is not well established and that they are not ap- 
proved or that their provision had regard only to the time of 
the schism. 

3. That it is necessary to regulate the use of the apostolic 
authority through canons made by the spirit of God and con- 
secrated by the general respect of all the world; that the rules, 
customs and constitutions received in the kingdom and in the 
Galilean Church ought to have their force and their vigor, and 
that the usages of our fathers ought to remain unshaken; that 
it is also for the grandeur of the apostolic Holy See that the 
laws and customs established with the consent of that see and 
of the Churches should have the authority which they ought 
to have. 

4. That, although the Pope has the principal part in ques- 



NAPOLEON AND RELIGION 



307 



tions of faith, and although his decrees relate to all the 
Churches, and each Church in particular, his judgment is not 
irreformable, unless the consent of the Church intervenes. 

These are the maxims which we have received from our 
fathers and which we have ordered to be sent to all the Gal- 
ilean Churches and to the bishops whom the Holy Spirit has 
established there to govern them, in order that we may all say 
the same thing, that we may be of the same sentiments, and 
that we may all hold the same doctrine. 

D. Organic Articles for the Protestant Sects. April 8, 
1802. Duvergier, Lois, XIII fi8 Germinal, Year X). 101-103. 

TITLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR ALL THE PROTESTANT 
COMMUNIONS, 

1. No one can conduct the performance of worship except 
a Frenchman. 

2. Neither the Protestant churches nor their ministers 
shall have relations with any foreign power or authority. 

3. The pastors and ministers of the different Protestant 
communions in the recital of their worstaip shall pray for and 
cause to be prayed for the prosperity of the French Republic 
and the Consuls, 

4. No doctrinal or dogmatic decision nor any formulary, 
under the title of confession or under any other title, shall be 
published or become matter of instruction until the Govern- 
ment has authorised the publication or promulgation of it. 

5. No change in discipline shall take place without the 
same authorisation. 

6. The Council of State shall be informed of all the under- 
takings of the ministers of the sect, and of all the dissensions 
which shall arise among these ministers. 

7. A stipend shall be provided [by the Government] for 
the pastors of the consistorial churches ; it is understood that 
the estates which these churches possess and the product of 
the offerings established by usage or by the regulations shall 
be utilized towards this stipend. 

8. The arrangements provided by the organic articles of 
the Catholic worship upon the liberty of endowments, and 
upoia the nature of the estates which can be the object thereof, 
shall be common to the Protestant churches. 



3o8 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



9. There shall be two academies or seminaries in the East 
of France for the instruction of ministers of the confession 
of Augsburg. 

10. There shall be a seminary at Geneva for the instruc- 
tion of the ministers of the reformed churches. 

11. The professors of all the academies or seminaries shall 
be appointed by the First Consul. 

12. No one can be elected minister or pastor of a church 
of the confession of Augsburg, unless he has studied fo'r a 
determined time in one of the French seminaries intended 
for the instruction of the ministers of that confession, and un- 
less he brings a certificate in good form attesting his time of 
study, his capacity and his good morals. 

13. No one can be elected minister or pastor of a reformed 
church, without having studied in the seminary at Geneva, nor 
unless he brings a certificate in the form set forth in the 
preceding article. 

14. The regulations upon the administration and the in- 
ternal police of the seminaries, upon the number and the quali- 
fication of the professors, upon the manner of instructing, and 
upon the matter of instruction, as well as upon the form of 
the certificates or attestations of study, good conduct and ca- 
pacity, shall be approved by the Government. 



65. Documents upon Napoleon and Education. 

From these documents an excellent ide^. of the educational sys- 
tem of Napoleon can be obtained. Documents A and C, the two- 
principal creative acts, show the plan of the system and inciden- 
tally throw some light upon its educational spirit and ideals. 
Document B, although an extract from a church instead of a school 
text-book, will serve to convey some idea of the character of the 
teaching touching political matters. 

Refeeences. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
France, 48-51 ; Fournier, Napoleon, 233-235, 406-410 ; Rose, Napo- 
leon, I, 271-275 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 221-224, III, 139-141 ; 
Sloane, Napoleon, II, 144-147, III, 72-74 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire Gencrale, IX, 248-253. 

A. Law upon Public Instruction. May i, 1802 (11 Floreal,. 
Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 175-178. 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 309 

TITLE I. DIVISION OF THE INSTRUCTION. 

I. Instruction shall be given : 

ist. In the primary schools established by the communes ; 

2d. In the secondary schools established by the communes 
or kept by private masters ; 

3d. In the lycees and the special schools maintained at the 
expense of the Public Treasury. 

TITLE IL OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 

3. The instructors shall be chosen by the mayors and the 
municipal councils; their stipend shall consist of: ist, the 
dwelling provided by the communes ; 2d, a fee paid by the 
parents, and fixed by the municipal councils. 

4. The municipal councils shall exempt from the fee those 
of the parents who may be unable to pay it ; nevertheless, this 
exemption cannot exceed a fifth of the children received into 
the primary schools. 

5. The sub-prefects shall be especially charged with the 
organization of the primary schools ; they shall render monthly 
to the prefects an account of their condition. 

TITLE IIL OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

6. Every school established by the communes or kept by 
individuals, in which instruction is given in the Latin and 
French languages, the first principles of geography, history, 
and mathematics, shall be considered a secondary school. 

7. The Government encourages the establishment of sec- 
ondary schools and will recompense good instruction which 
shall be given there, either by the grant of a habitation or by 
the distribution of gratuitous places in the lycees to those of 
the pupils of each department who shall most distinguish them- 
selves, and by bounties granted to the fifty masters of those 
schools which shall have had the most pupils admitted to the 
lycees. 

8. Secondary schools cannot be established without the 
authorisation of the Government. The secondary schools, 
as well as all the private schools whose instruction shall be 
higher than that of the primary schools, shall be placed under 
the special surveillance and inspection of the prefects. 

TITLE IV. OF THE LYCEES. 

9. Lycees shall be established for instruction in letters 



310 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



and the sciences. There shall be at least one lycee for each 
tribunal of appeal district. 

10. Instruction shall be given in the lycees in the ancient 
languages, rhetoric, logic, ethics, and the elements of the 
mathematical and physical sciences. 

The number of professors in the lycee shall never be less 
than eight ; but it can be increased by the Government, as well 
as the number of the subjects of instruction, according to the 
number of pupils who shall attend the lycees. 

11. There shall be in the lycees, study masters, and mas- 
ters of drawing, military exercises, and of accomplishments, 
[i.e. music and dancing]. 

12. Instruction shall be given there : 

To pupils whom the Government shall place there ; 

To the pupils of the secondary schools who shall be ad- 
mitted there by a competition ; 

To pupils whose parents shall have placed them there to 
board ; 

To day scholars. 

13. The administration of each lycee shall be confided to 
a principal ; he shall have immediately under him a study- 
critic and a proctor conducting the affairs of the school. 

14. The principal, the critic, and the proctor shall be ap- 
pointed by the First Consul : they shall form the Council of 
Administration for the school. 

15. In each of the cities where a lycee is established there 
shall be a bureau of administration for that school. This bu- 
reau shall be composed of the prefect of the department, the 
president of the tribunal of appeal, the commissioner of the 
Government before this tribunal, the commissioner of the 
Government before the criminal tribunal, the mayor, and the 
principal. 

17. The First Consul shall appoint three inspectors-general 
of studies who shall visit the lycees at least once a year, shall 
definitely settle their accounts, shall examine all parts of the 
instruction and administration, and shall render an account 
thereof to the Government. 



19. 



The first appointment of the professors of the lycees 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 311 

shall be in the following manner: three inspectors-general of 
studies, in conjunction with three members of the National 
Institute, designated by the First Consul, shall go over the de- 
partments and shall there examine the citizens who present 
themselves to occupy the different places of professors. For 
each place they shall indicate to the government two persons, 
one of whom shall be appointed by the First Consul. 

20. When the lycees are once organized and a chair be- 
comes vacant, the three inspectors-general of studies shall pre- 
sent one person to the Government; the bureau, in conjunc- 
tion with the council of administration and the professors of 
the lycees, shall present another ; the First Consul shall appoint 
one of the two candidates. 

TITLE V. OF THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS. 

2Z. The last grade of instruction shall include in the 
special schools the complete and profound study of the isciences 
and the useful arts, as well as the perfecting thereof. 

24. The special schools now in 'existence shall be pre- 
served, without prejudice to the modifications which the Gov- 
ernment believes that it must order for the economy and the 
welfare of the service. When the place of a professor shall 
become vacant, including the school of law which shall be 
established at Paris, it shall be filled by the First Consul from 
three candidates who shall be presented, the first by one of the 
classes of the National Institute, the second by the inspectors- 
general of studies, and the third by the professors of the school 
in which the place shall be vacant. 

25. The following new special schools shall be instituted: 
1st. Ten law schools can be established: each of them 

shall have four professors at most; 

2d. Three new schools of medicine can be created, which 
shall have at most eight professors each, and one of which 
shall be devoted especially to the study and treatment of the 
diseases of the troops of the army and navy; 

3d. There shall be four schools of natural history, physics, 
and chemistry, with four professors in each ; 

4th. The mechanical and chemical arts shall be taught in 
two special schools : there shall be three professors in each of 
these schools ; 



312 NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 

5th. A school of transcendental mathematics shall have 
three professors ; 

6th, A special school of geography, history, and public 
economy shall be composed of four professors ; 

7th. In addition to the schools of the arts of design ex- 
isting at Paris, Dijon, and Toulouse, there shall be formed a 
fourth one with four professors ; 

8th. The observatories in operation at present shall each 
have a professor of astronomy; 

9th. There shall be in several lycees professors of the 'liv- 
ing languages ; 

loth. There shall be appointed eight professors of music 
and composition. 

26. The first appointment of the professors for these new- 
special schools shall be made in the following manner : The 
classes of the Institute corresponding to the places which are 
to be filled shall present one person to the Government ; the 
three inspectors-general of studies shall present a second : the 
First Consul shall choose one of the two. 

After the organization of the new special schools, the First 
Consul shall appoint to the vacant places from among the three 
persons who shall be presented to him as is provided in 
article 24. 

TITLE VII. OF THE NATIONAL PUPILS. 

32. Six thousand four hundred boarding pupils shall be 
supported at the expense of the RepubHc at the lycees and the 
■special schools. 

22. Out of these six thousand four hundred pensioners, 
two thousand four hundred shall be chosen by the Government 
from among the sons of military men and of civil, judicial, 
administrative, or municipal functionaries who shall have 
served the Republic well ; and for ten years only, from among 
the children of citizens of the departments united with France, 
although they may have been neither military men nor public 
functionaries. 

These two thousand four hundred pupils must be at least 
nine years of age and know how to read and write. 

34. The other four thousand pupils shall be taken from a 
double number of pupils of the secondary schools, who shall 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 313 

be presented to the government in consequence of an examin- 
ation and a competition. 

Each department shall furnish a number of these latter 
pupils proportionate to its population. 

35. The pupils supported in the lycees cannot remain 
there more than six years at the expense of the nation. At 
the end of their studies they shall undergo an examination, in 
consequence of which one-fifth of them shall be placed in the 
different special schools, according to the inclination of these 
pupils, in order to be supported there for from two to four 
years at the expense of the Republic. 

B. Imperial Catechism. April 4, 1807. Extract, Larousse, 
Grande Dictionaire Universel, III, 567. 

Lesson VII. Continuation of the Fourth Commandment. 

Q. What are the duties of Christians with respect to the 
princes who govern them, and what in particular are our duties 
towards Napoleon I, our Emperor? 

A. Christians owe to the princes who govern them, and 
we owe in particular to Napoleon I, our Emperor, love, respect, 
obedience, fidelity, military service and the tributes laid for the 
preservation and defence of the Empire and of his throne; we 
also owe to him fervent prayers for his safety and the spiritual 
and temporal prosperity of the State. 

Q. Why are we bound to all these duties towards our 
Emperor? 

A. First of all, because God, who creates empires and dis- 
tributes them according to His will, in loading our Emperor 
with gifts, both in peace and in war, has established him as our 
sovereign and has made him the minister of His power and 
His image upon the earth. To honor and to serve our Em- 
peror is then to honor and to serve God himself. Secondly, 
because our Lord Jesus Christ by his doctrine as well as by 
His example, has Himself taught us what we owe to our 
sovereign: He was born the subject of Caesar Augustus; He 
paid the prescribed impost; and just as He ordered to render 
to God that which belongs to God, so He ordered to render to 
Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. 



314 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



Q. Are there not particular reasons which ought to attach 
us more strongly to Napoleon I, our Emperor? 

A. Yes ; for it is he whom God has raised up under diffi- 
cult circumstances to re-establish the public worship of the 
holy religion of our fathers and to be the protector of it. He 
has restored and preserved public order by his profound and 
active wisdom ; he defends the State by his powerful arm ; 
he has become the anointed of the Lord through the con- 
secration which he received from the sovereign pontiff, Head 
of the Universal Church. 

Q. What ought to be thought of those who may be lack- 
ing in their duty towards our Emperor? 

A. According to the Apostle Saint Paul, they would be 
resisting the order established by God himself and would 
render themselves zvorthy of eternal damnation. 

Q. Will the duties which are required of us towards our 
Emperor be equally binding with respect to his lawful suc- 
cessors in the order established by the constitutions of the 
Empire ? 

A. Yes, without doubt ; for we read in the Holy Scrip- 
tures, that G.od, Lord of heaven and earth, by an order of 
His supreme will and through His providence, gives empires 
not only to one person in particular, but also to his family. 

C. Decree for Organizing the Imperial University, March 
17, 1808. Duvergier, Lois, XVI, 238-248. 

^ TITLE I. GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

1. Public instruction in the entire empire is intrusted ex- 
clusively to the University. 

2. No school, no establishment for instruction whatsoever, 
can be formed outside of the Imperial University and without 
the authorisation of its head. 

3. No one can open a school nor give instruction publicly 
without being a member of the Imperial Universit}^ and grad-. 
uated by one of its faculties. Nevertheless, the instruction in 
the seminaries is under the control of the archbishops and 
bishops, each for his own diocese. They appoint and dismiss 
the directors and professors thereof. They are only re- 
quired to comply with the regulations for the seminaries, ap 
proved by us. 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



315 



4. The Imperial University shall be composed of as many- 
academies as there are courts of appeal. 

5. The schools belonging to each academy shall be placed 
in the following order : 

1st. The faculties of theology, .-— 
bestowing of the degrees ; 

2d. The lycees for the ancient languages, history, rhetoric, 
logic, and the elements of the mathematical and physical sci- 
ences ; 

3d. The colleges, secondary communal schools, for the 
elements of the ancient languages and the first principles of 
history and the sciences ; 

4th. The institutions and schools conducted by individual' 
instructors, in which the instruction is allied to that of the 
colleges ; 

5th. The schools and boarding-schools belonging to in- 
dividual masters and devoted to studies less advanced than 
those of the institutions ; 

6th. The petty schools and primary schools, in which 
reading, writing, and the first principles of arithmetic are 
taught. 

TITLE TI. OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE FACULTIES. 

6. There shall be in the Imperial University five orders 
of faculties, to wit : 

1st. The faculties of theology. 

2d. The faculties of law, 

3d. The faculties of medicine, 

4th. The faculties of mathematical and physical sciences, 

5th. The faculties of letters. 



TITLE IV. OF THE ORDER WHICH SHALL BE ESTABLISHED AMONG 

THE MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY ; OF THE RANKS AND 

THE TITLES ATTACHED TO THE FUNCTIONS. 

I. Of the Ranks among the Functionaries. 
29. The functionaries of the Imperial University shall 
take rank among themselves in the following order: 
Ranks. 
Of Administration. Of Instruction. 

1st. The grand master. 
2d. The chancellor. 
3d. The tre,asurer. 
,4th. The councillors for life. 



3i6 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



Stli. Tlio ordinary councillors. 

6tli. The inspectors of the 
University. 

7th. The rectors of the acad- 
emy. 

8th. The inspectors of the 
academies. 

9th. The deans of the faculties. 

10th. 

11th. The head-masters of the 
lycees. 

12th. The critics of the lycees. 

13th. 

14th. The principals of the col- 
leges. 

15th. 

16th. 

17th. The heads of the insti- 
tutions. 

18th. The masters of the 
boarding schools. 

19th. 

30. After the first formation of the Imperial University, 
the order of the ranks shall be followed in the selection of 
the functionaries, and no one can be appointed to a place until 
after having passed through the subordinate places. 

The places shall form also a field of action which shall 
present, for knowledge and good conduct, the promise of 
rising to the highest ranks of the Imperial University. 

TITLE V. OF THE PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION IN THE 
SCHOOLS OF THE UNIVERSITY. 



The professors of the facul- 
ties. 



The professors of the lycees. 



The fellows. 

Regents of the colleges. 



The masters of studies. 



38. All the schools of the Imperial University shall take 
for the basis of their instruction : 

1st. The precepts of the Catholic religion; 

2d. Fidelity to the Emperor, to the Imperial Monarchy, 
the depository of the welfare of the peoples, and to the Na- 
poleonic dynasty, the conservator of the unity of France and 
of all the liberal ideas proclaimed by the constitutions; 

3d. Obedience to the rules of the teaching corps, which 
have for their object the uniformity of instruction, and which 
tend to train for the State citizens attached to their religion, to 
their prince, to their fatherland, and to their family; 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 317 

4th. All the professors of theology shall be required to 
conform themselves to the provisions of the edict of 1682, con- 
cerning the four propositions contained in the declaration of 
the clergy of France of the said year. 

TITLE VI. OF THE OBLIGATIONS WHICH THE MEMBERS OF THE 
UNIVERSITY CONTRACT. 

39. By the terms of article 2 of the law of May 10, 
1806, the members of the Imperial University at the time 
of their installation shall contract by oath the civil obliga- 
tions, special and temporary, which shall bind them to the 
instructional corps. 

40. They shall bind themselves to the precise observance 
of the rules and regulations of the University. 

41. They shall promise obedience to the grand master in 
all that he shall command them for our service and for the 
good of the instruction. 

42. They shall bind themselves not to leave the instruc- 
tional corps and their functions until after having obtained 
the consent of the grand master therefor in the forms which 
shall be prescribed. 

43. The grand master can release a member of the Uni- 
versity from his obligations and permit him to leave the corps : 
in case of refusal by the grand master, and of persistence on 
the part of the member of the University in the resolution to 
leave the corps, the grand master shall be required to deliver 
to him a letter of exeat after three consecutive demands re- 
peated at intervals of two months. 

44. Whoever shall have left the instructional body without 
having fulfilled these formalities shall be removed from the 
roll of the University and shall incur the penalty attached to 
that removal. 

45. The members of the University shall not be able to 
accept any salaried public or private position without the 
properly attested permission of the grand master. 

46. The members of the University shall be required to 
inform the grand master and his officers of everything in 
the establishments of public instruction which may come 
to^ their knowledge that is contrary to the doctrine and the 
principles of the instructional corps. 



3l8 NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 

47. The disciplinary penalties which the violation of the 
duties and obligations may entail shall be : 

I St. Arrests; 

2d. Reprimand in the presence of an academic council; 

3d. Censure in the presence of the council of the Univer- 
sity ; 

4th. Change to a subordinate employment; 

5th. Suspension from duty for a fixed time, with or with- 
out total or partial deprivation of stipend ; 

6th. Reform or retirement given before the time of'emer- 
itation, with a stipend less than the pension of the emerited ; 

7th, Lastly, removal from the roll of the University. 

48. Every person who shall have incurred removal shall 
be disqualified for employment in any public administration. 

49. The relations between the penalties and the infraction 
of duties, as well as the grading of these penalties according 
to the different employments, shall be established by rules, 

TITLE VII. OF THE FUNCTIONS AND PREROGATIVES OF THE GRAND 
MASTER OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

50. The Imperial University shall be administered and 
governed by the grand master, who shall be appointed and 
dismissed by us. 

51. The grand master shall have the selection to the 
administrative places and to the chairs of the colleges and 
the lycees; he shall likewise appoint the officers of the acad- 
emies and those of the University, and he shall make all the 
promotions in the instructional corps, 

52. He shall install the persons who shall have obtained 
the chairs of the faculties, according to the competition whose 
method shall be determined by the council of the University. 

54. He shall grant permission to instruct and to open 
houses of instruction to the graduates of the University who 
shall ask it from him and who shall have fulfilled the con- 
dition required by the regulations in order to obtain this per- 
mission. 

55. The grand master shall be presented to us each year 
by the minister of the interior, in order to submit to us : ist, 
the list of the establishments of instruction, and particularly 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 319 

of the boarding schools, institutions, colleges and lycees; 2d. 
that of the officers of the academies and of the officers 
of the University; 3d, the promotion list of the members 
of the instructional corps who shall have merited it by their 
services. He shall cause these lists to be published at the 
opening of the academic year. 

56. He can transfer from one academy to another the 
regents and principals of the colleges maintained by the 
communes, as well as the functionaries and the professors of 
the lycees, upon taking the opinion of three members of the 
council. 

57. He shall have the authority to impose arrests, repri- 
mand, censure, the change and suspension of functions (article 
47) upon members of the University who shall have been 
delinquent enough in their duties to incur these penalties. 

60. He shall give to the different schools the regulations 
for discipline, which shall be discussed by the council of the 
University. 

61. He shall convoke and preside over this council, and 
he shall appoint its members, as well as those of the academic 
councils, as shall be provided in the following titles. 

TITLE IX. OF THE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

Of the Formation of the Council. 

69. The council of the University shall be composed of 
thirty members. 

70. Ten of these members, of whom six shall be chosen 
from among the inspectors and four from among the rectors, 
shall be councillors for life or titular councillors of the Uni- 
versity. They shall be commissioned by us. 

The ordinary councillors, to the number of twenty, shall 
be taken from among the inspectors, the deans and professors 
of the faculties, and the head-masters of the lycees. 

71. Every year the grand master shall make up the list of 
the twenty ordinary councillors, who shall complete the coun- 
cil for the 3'ear. 

75. The council shall be divided for work into five sec- 
tions : 



320 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



The jfirst shall occupy itself with the condition and the 
improvement of the studies ; 

The second with the administration and the police of the 
schools ; 

The third with their accounts ; 

The fourth with litigious matters ; 

And the fifth with affairs of the seal of the University. 

Each section shall examine the matters which shall be sent 
to it by the grand master, and shall make report thereof 
to the council, which shall deliberate thereon. 

Of the Prerogatives of the Council. 

76. The grand master shall propose for the discussion of 
the council all the projects for regulations and rules which 
may be made for the schools of different degrees. 

']']. All questions relative to the police, the accounting and 
the general administration of the faculties, the lycees, and the 
colleges shall be decided by the council, which shall fix the 
budgets of these schools upon the report of the treasurer of 
the University. 

78. It shall pass judgment upon the accusations of the su- 
periors and the complaints of the subordinates. 

79. It alone can impose upon the members of the Uni- 
versity the penalties for reformation or removal (article 47) 
after investigation and examination of the offences which shall 
involve condemnation to these penalties. 

80. The council shall admit or reject the works which 
shall have been or ought to be put into the hands of the pupils 
or placed in the libraries of the lycees or colleges ; it shall 
examine the new works which shall be proposed for the in- 
struction of the same schools. 

81. It shall hear the report of the inspectors upon return 
from their missions. 

82. The litigious matters relative to the general admin- 
istration of the academies and their schools, and in particular 
those which shall concern the members of the University in 
relation to their functions, shall be carried to the council of 
the University. The decisions, taken by majority of the 
votes and after an exhaustive discussion, shall be executed by 
the grand master. Nevertheless, in this he can have recourse 



NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 



321 



to our Council of State against the decisions upon the report 
of our minister of the interior. 

83. In conformity with the proposal of the grand master 
and upon the presentation of our minister of the iniprior, a 
commission of the council of the University can be admitted 
to our Council of State in order to solicit the reform of the 
regulations and the decisions interpretative of the law. 

84. The minutes of the meetings of the council of the 
University shall be sent each month to our minister of the 
interior : the members of the council may cause to be inserted 
in these minutes the motives for their opinions, when they 
differ from the opinion adopted by the council. 

TITLE XI, OF THE INSPECTORS OF THE UNIVERSITY AND OF THE 
INSPECTORS OF THE ACADEMIES. 

90. The general inspectors of the University shall be ap- 
pointed by the grand master, and taken from among the offi- 
cers of the University; their number shall be at least twenty 
and cannot exceed thirty. 

91. They shall be divided into five orders, as are the 
faculties ; they shall not belong to any academy in particular ; 
they shall visit them in turns and upon die order of the 
grand master, in order to ascertain the condition of the studies 
and of the discipline in the faculties, the lycees, and the col- 
leges, to make certain the accuracy and the talents of the pro- 
fessors, regents and masters of study, to examine the schol- 
ars, and lastly, to supervise their administration and accounts. 

TITLE XII. OF THE RECTORS OF THE ACADEMIES- 

94. Each academ.y shall be governed by a rector under the 
immediate orders of the grand master, who shall appoint 
him for five years, and shall choose him from among the 
officers of the academies. 

97. They [the rectors] shall cause the deans of the fac- 
ulties, head-masters of the lycees, and principals of the col- 
leges to give accounts to them of the condition of these estab- 
lishments ; and they shall direct their administration, especially 
in relation to the severity of the discipline and economy in 
the expenses. 
II 



322 NAPOLEON AND EDUCATION 

98. They shall cause to be inspected and looked after 
by the individual inspectors of academies, the schools, and 
especially the colleges, institutions, and boarding schools, and 
they themselves shall make visits as often as it is possible for 
them. 

TITLE XIII. OF THE REGULATIONS TO BE GIVEN TO THE LYCEES^ 

COLLEGES^ INSTITUTIONS, BOARDING SCHOOLS 

AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 

loi. For the future, .and after the complete organization 
of the University, the head-masters and critics of the lycees, 
the principals and regents of the colleges, as well as the 
masters of study of these schools, shall be bound to celibacy 
and to the life in common. 

The professors of the lycees can be married and, in that 
case, they shall dwell outside of the lycee. The celibate pro- 
fessors can dwell therein, and take advantage of the life in 
common. 

104. There shall be nothing printed and published to an- 
nounce the studies, the discipline, the boarding conditions, or 
upon the exercises of the pupils in the schools, unless the dif- 
ferent programs have been submitted to the rectors and coun- 
cils of the academies and approval has been obtained for them. 

105. Upon the proposal of the rectors and the advice of 
the inspectors, and after an information made by the academic 
councils, the grand master, after having consulted with the 
council of the University, can cause the closing of the institu- 
tions and schools in which there shall have been discovered se- 
rious abuses and principles contrary to those which the Univer- 
sity professes. 

107. Measures shall be taken by the University in order 
that the art of instructing in reading, writing, and the first 
principles of arithmetic in the primary schools shall hence- 
forth not be exercised except by masters sufficiently enlight- 
ened to impart readily and accurately these fundamental ac- 
quirements necessary for all men. 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 



325 



108. For that purpose there shall be estabhshed under the 
care of each academy, and within the precincts of the col- 
leges or the lycees, one or several normal classes, for the pur- 
pose of training masters for the primary schools. The, most 
suitable methods for improving the art of teaching reading, 
writing, and cyphering shall be set forth there. 

TITLE XVI. OF THE COSTUMES. 

128. The common costume for all the members of the Uni- 
versity shall be the black coat with a palm, embroidered in blue 
silk upon the left part of the breast. 

129. The regents and professors shall give their lectures in 
black tamine robes. Over the robe and upon the left shoul- 
der shall be placed the shoulder knot, which shall vary in 
color according to the faculties, and in braiding only according 
to the grades. 

TITLE XIX. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

143. The Imperial University and its grand master, 
charged exclusively by us with the care of education and 
public instruction in all the Empire, shall aim without respite 
to improve the instruction of all sorts, and to favor the 
composition of classical works ; they shall particularly take 
care that the instruction of the sciences shall always be upon 
the level of acquired knowledge and that the spirit of system 
shall never arrest their progress. 

144 and last. We reserve to ourselves to recognize and 
reward in a particular manner the great services which may 
be rendered by the members of the University for the in- 
struction of our peoples ; and also to reform, and that by de- 
crees taken in our council, every decision, rule, or act eman- 
ating from the council of the University or the grand master, 
whenever we shall deem it useful for the good of the State. 

66. Documents upon the Consulate for Life. 

The first four of these documents show how the ten years' con- 
sulate was transformed into a life consulate. The enumeration of 
re3,sons in document B also shows something of the popular esti- 
mate put upon Napoleon's achievements. Document E was in fact 
a new constitution, being often called the Constitution of the Year 



324 CONSULATE FOR LIFE 

X. It should be compared with the Constitution of the Year VIII 
(No. 58). The precise changes effected in all the more important 
institutions and methods for carrying on the government should be 
carefully noted. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 238-241 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
I, 283-305 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, Ch. xxii ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 
225-238 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gencrale, IX, 24-30 ; Au- 
lard, Revohition Francaise, 748-758. 

A. Declaration of the Tribunate. May 6, 1802 (16 Floreal, 
Year X). Monitcur, May 7, 1902 (17 Floreal, Year X). ' 

The Tribunate expresses the wish that there should be 
given to General Bonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, a 
striking token of national recognition. 

The Tribunate orders that this wish shall be addressed by 
a messenger of state to the Conservative Senate, the Corps- 
Legislatif, and the Government. 

B. Re-election by the Senate. May 6, 1802 (16 Floreal, 
Year X). Monitew', May 11, 1802 (21 Floreal, Year X). 

The Senate, assembled in the number of members pre- 
scribed by article 90 of the constitutional act ; 

In view of the message of the Consuls of the Republic 
transmitted by three orators of the Government, and relative 
to the peace of France with England ; 

After having heard its special commission, charged by its 
order of the i6th of this month [Floreal] to present to it 
views upon the testimonial of national recognition which the 
Senate has in mind to give to the First Consul of the Re- 
public ; 

Considering that, under the circumstances in which the 
Republic finds itself, it is the duty of the Conservative Sen 
ate to employ all the means which the constitution has put 
in its power in order to give to the Government the stability 
which alone multiplies resources, inspires confidence abroad, 
establishes credit within, reassures allies, discourages secret 
enemies, turns away the scourge of war, permits the enjoy- 
ment of the fruits of peace, and leaves to wisdom time to carry 
out whatever it can conceive for the welfare of a free people; 

Considering, moreover, that the supreme magistrate who, 
after having so many times led the republican legions to vie- 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 325 

tory, delivered Italy, triumphed in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, 
and filled the world with his renown, has preserved France 
from the horrors of anarchy which were menacing it, broken 
the revolutionary sickle, dispersed the factions, extinguished 
civil discords and religious disturbances, added to the 
benefits of liberty those of order and of security, hastened the 
progress of enlightenment, consoled humanity, and pacified 
the Continent and the seas, has the greatest right to the rec- 
ognition of his fellow citizens, as well as the admiration of 
posterity ; 

That the wish of the Tribunate, which has come to the 
Senate in the sitting of this day, under these circumstances, 
can be regarded as that of the French nation; 

That the Senate cannot express more solemnly to the First 
Consul the recognition of the nation than in giving him a 
striking proof of the confidence which he has inspired in the 
French people ; 

Considering, finally, that the second and the third consuls 
have worthily seconded the glorious labors of the First Con- 
sul of the Republic ; 

In consequence of all these motives, and the votes having 
been collected by secret ballot ; 

The Senate decrees as follows : 

1. The Conservative Senate, in the name of the French 
people, testifies to its recognition of the consuls of the Re- 
public. 

2. The Conservative Senate re-elects Citizen Napoleon 
Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic for the ten 
years which shall immediately follow the ten for which he 
has been appointed by article 39 of the constitution. 

3. The present senatus-consultum shall be transmitted by 
a message to the Corps-Legislatif, the Tribunate, and the 
Consuls of the Republic, 

C. Message of the First Consul to the Senate. May 9, 
1802 (19 Floreal, Year X). Moniteur, May 11, 1802 (21 
Floreal, Year X). 
Senators : 

The honorable proof of esteem contained in your resolu- 
tion of the i8th will ever be graven upon my heart. 



326 CONSULATE FOR LIFE 

The suffrage of the people has invested me with the su- 
preme magistracy. I should not think myself assured of their 
confidence, if the act which retained me there was not again 
sanctioned by their suffrage. 

In the three years which have just passed away fortune 
has smiled upon the Republic; but fortune is inconstant, and 
how many men whom it had crowned with its favors have 
lived on some years too many. 

The interest of my glory and that of my happiness would 
seem to have marked the termination of my public life at the 
moment in which the peace of the world is proclaimed. 

But the glory and happiness of the citizen must be silent, 
when the interest of the State and the public well-being sum- 
mon him. 

You deem that I owe to the people a new sacrifice ; I will 
make it, if the wish of the people commands what your suf- 
fVage authorises. 

Signed, Bonaparte. 

D. Order of the Consuls. May lo, 1802 (20 Floreal, Year 
X). Moniteur, May 11, 1802 (21 Floreal, Year X). 

The consuls of the Republic, upon the reports of the min- 
isters, the Council of State having been heard ; 

In view of the act of the Conservative Senate of the i8th 
of this month ; 

The message of the First Consul to the Conservative Sen- 
ate, by date of yesterday, the 19th ; 

Considering that the resolution of the First Consul is a 
striking homage rendered to the sovereignty of the people; 
that the people, consulted upon their dearest interests, ought 
not to know any other limits than their own interests, orders 
as follows : 

1. The French people shall be consulted upon this ques- 
tion : 

Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be Consul for life? 

2. There shall be opened in each commune registers, in 
which the citizens shall be invited to express their wish upon 
that question. 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 327 

E. Senatus-Consultum. August 4, 1802 (16 Thermidor, 
Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 262-267. 

TITLE I. 

1. Each justice of the peace jurisdiction has a cantonal 
assembly. 

2. Each communal district or sub-prefecture district has 
a district electoral college. 

3. Each department has a department electoral college. 

TITLE IL OF THE CANTONAL ASSEMBLIES. 

4. The cantonal assembly consists of all the citizens dom- 
iciled in the canton and who are enrolled there upon the dis- 
trict communal list. 

Counting from the date at which, by the terms of the Con- 
stitution, the communal lists must be renewed, the cantonal 
assembly shall be composed of all the citizens domiciled in 
the canton and who there enjoy the rights of citizenship. 

5. The First Consul appoints the president of the cantonal 
assembly. 

His functions continue for five years : he can be reap- 
pointed indefinitely. 

He is assisted by four tellers, two of whom are the eldest 
and the other two the most highly taxed of the citizens having 
the right to vote in the assembly of the canton. 

The president and the four tellers appoint the secretary. 

6. The cantonal assembly divides itself into sections in 
order to perform the operations which belong to it. 

At the first meeting of each assembly its organization and 
forms shall be determined by a regulation issued by the Gov- 
ernment, 

7. The president of the cantonal assembly appoints the 
presidents of the sections. 

Their functions terminate with each sectional assembly. 

They are each assisted by two tellers, one of whom is the 
eldest, and the other the most highly taxed of the citizens 
having the right to vote in the section. 

8. The cantonal assembly selects two citizens from whom 
the First Consul chooses the justice of the peace of the canton. 

It likewise selects two citizens for each vacant place of 
substitute justice of the peace. 



328 CONSULATE FOR LIFE 

9. The justices of the peace and their substitutes are ap- 
pointed for ten years. 

10. In cities of five thousand souls, the cantonal assembly 
presents two citizens for each of the places in the municipal 
council. In cities in which there are several justices of the 
peace or several cantonal assemblies, each assembly shall like- 
wise present two citizens for each place in the municipal coun- 
cil. 

11. The members of the municipal councils are taken by 
each cantonal assembly from the list of the one hundred larg- 
est tax-payers of the canton. This list shall be drawn up and 
printed by order of the prefect. 

12. The municipal councils are renewed by half every ten 
years. 

13. The First Consul chooses the mayors and deputies 
within the municipal councils ; they are in office for five years : 
they can be reappointed. 

14. The cantonal assembly appoints to the district elector- 
al college the number of members assigned to it by reason of 
the number of citizens of which it is composed. 

15. It appoints to the department electoral college, out 
of a list to be spoken of hereafter, the number of members 
allowed to it. 

16. The members of the electoral colleges must be dom- 
iciled in their respective districts and departments. 

17. The Government convokes the canronal assemblies, 
and determines the time of their duration and the purpose of 
their meeting. 

TITLE HI. OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES. 

18. The district electoral colleges have one member for 
five hundred inhabitants domiciled in the district. 

Nevertheless, the number of members cannot exceed two 
hundred nor be less than one hundred and twenty. 

19. The department electoral colleges have one member per 
thousand inhabitants domiciled in the department ; neverthe- 
less, these members cannot exceed three hundred nor be less 
than two hundred. 

20. The members of the electoral colleges are for life. 

21. If a member of an electoral college is denounced to the 
Government as being implicated in some act prejudicial to 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 329 

honor or to the fatherland, the Government summons the 
college to express its opinion; there must be three-fourths of 
the votes in order to cause a denounced member to lose his 
place in the college. 

22. Places in the electoral college are lost for the sam.e 
causes which entail loss of citizenship. 

They are also lost when, without legitimate excuse, one has 
not participated in three successive meetings, 

23. The First Consul appoints, at each session, the pres- 
idents of the electoral college. 

The president alone has the policing of the electoral col- 
lege when it is assembled. 

24. The electoral colleges appoint, at each session, two 
tellers and a secretary. 

25. In order to provide for the formation of the depart- 
ment electoral colleges, there shall be prepared in each de- 
partment, under orders of the minister of finances, a list of 
the six hundred citizens most highly rated upon the land, 
personal property, and sumptuary tax-rolls and upon the roll 
of licenses. 

There is added to the amount of the tax in the domicile 
of the department that which can be proven to have been 
paid in the other parts of the territory of France and its col- 
onies. 

This list shall be printed. 

26. The cantonal assembly shall take froni this list the 
members whom it must appoint to the electoral college of the 
department. 

27. The First Consul can add to the district electoral col- 
lege ten members taken from among the citizens belonging 
to the Legion of Honor, or who have rendered the services. 

He can add to each department electoral college twenty cit- 
izens, ten of them taken from among the thirty largest tax- 
payers of the department, and the other ten from among the 
members of the Legion of Honor or the citizens who have ren- 
dered the services. 

For these appointments he is not subject to the fixed 
periods. 

28. The district electoral colleges present to the First 



330 



CONSULATE FOB LIFE 



Consul two citizens domiciled in the district for each vacant 
place in the district council. 

At least one of the citizens must be taken from outside 
of the college which presents him. 

'The district councils are renewed by thirds every five years. 

29. The district electoral colleges present at each meeting 
two citizens to make part of the list from which the members 
of the tribunate must be chosen. 

At least one of these citizens must necessarily be taken 
from outside of the college which presents him. 

Both can be taken from outside of the department. 

30. The department electoral colleges present to the First 
•Consul for each vacant place in the general council of the de- 
partment two citizens domiciled in the department. 

At least one of these citizens must necessarily be. taken 
from outside of the electoral college that presents him. 

The general councils of the department are renewed by 
thirds every five years. 

31. The department electoral colleges present at each 
meeting two citizens in order to form the list from which the 
members of the Senate are appointed. 

At least one must necessarily be taken from outside the 
college which presents him; and both can be taken from out- 
side the department. 

They must have the age and qualifications required by the 
Constitution. 

32. The department and district electoral colleges each 
present two citizens domiciled in the department in order to 
form the list from which the members of the deputation in 
the Corps-Legislatif m.ust be appointed. 

One of these citizens must necessarily be taken from out- 
side the college that presents him. 

There must be three times as many different candidates 
upon the list formed by the union of the presentations of the 
department and district electoral colleges as there are vacant 
places. 

SS. One can be a member of a communal council and of 
a district or department electoral college. 

One cannot be at the same time a member of a district 
college and a department college. 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 



331 



34. The members of the Corps-Legislatif and of the 
Tribunate cannot be present at the meetings of the electoral 
college to which they belong. All other public functionaries 
have the right to be present and to vote there. 

35. No cantonal assembly proceeds to make appointments 
for the places which belong to it in an electoral college, except 
when these places are reduced to two-thirds. 

26. The electoral colleges assemble only in virtue of an 
act of convocation issued by the Government, and in the place 
which is assigned to them. 

They cannot engage in any operations except those for 
which they are convoked, nor continue their sittings beyond 
the term fixed by the act of convocation. 

If they exceed these limits the Government has the right to 
dissolve them. 

S7. The electoral colleges cannot directly or indirectly, 
under any pretext whatever, correspond with each other. 

38. The dissolution of an electoral body makes necessary 
the renewal of all its members. 

TITLE IV. OF THE CONSULS. '; 

39. The consuls are for life. 

They are members of the Senate, and the president. 

40. The second and third consuls are appointed by the 
Senate upon the presentation of the first. 

41. For that purpose, when one of the two places becomes 
vacant, the First Consul presents to the Senate a first choice ; 
if he is not appointed, he presents a second ; if the second is 
not accepted, he presents a third who is necessarily appointed. 

42. When the First Consul thinks it seasonable, he pre- 
sents a citizen to succeed him after his death, in the form in- 
dicated by the preceding article. 

43. The citizen appointed to succeed the First Consul 
takes an oath to the Republic at the hands of the First Con- 
sul, assisted by the second and third Consuls, in the presence 
of the Senate, the ministers, the Council of State, the Corps- 
Legislatif, the Tribunate, the Tribunal of Cassation, the arch- 
bishops, the bishops, the presidents of the appellate tribunals, 
the presidents of the electoral colleges, the presidents of the 
cantonal assemblies, the grand officers of the Legion of Honor, 



ZZ2. 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 



and the mayors of the twenty-four principal cities of the Re- 
public. 

The Secretary of State prepares the record of the taking of 
the oath. 

44. The oath is thus expressed : 

'T swear to maintain the Constitution, to respect liberty of 
conscience, to oppose a return to feudal institutions, never 
to make war except for the defence and glory of the Repub- 
lic, and to employ the authority with which I shall be in- 
vested only for the good of the people, from whom and for 
whom I shall have received- it." 

45. Having taken the oath, he takes a seat in the Senate 
immediately next to the Third Consul. 

46. The First Consul can deposit in the archives of the 
government his opinion upon the appointment of his succes- 
sor, in order to be presented to the Senate after his death. 

47. In that case he summons the Second and Third Con- 
suls, the* ministers, and the presidents of the sections of the 
Council of State, 

In their presence he transfers to the Secretary of State the 
paper, sealed with his seal, in which his opinion is contained. 
This paper is attested by all those who are present at the act. 

The Secretary of State deposits it in the archives of the 
Government in the presence of the ministers and the pres- 
idents of the sections of the Council of State. 

48. The First Consul can withdraw his deposit, observing 
the formalities prescribed in the preceding article. 

49. After the death of the First Consul, if his opinion 
remains on deposit, the paper vv-hich contains it is withdrawn 
from the archives of the Government by the Secretary of State, 
in the presence of the ministers and presidents of the sections 
of the Council of State. The integrity and authenticity of 
it is recognized in the presence of the Second and Third 
Consuls. It is forwarded to the Senate with a message of the 
Government, together with the dispatch of the records which 
have established its deposit, authenticity, and integrity. 

50. If the person presented by the First Consul is not ap- 
pointed, the Second and Third Consuls each present one : in 
case of non-appointment, they each present another, and one 
of the two is necessarily appointed. 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 



333 



51. If the First Consul has not left any presentation, the 
Second and Third Consuls make their separate presentations; 
one first and one second; and if neither of them obtains the 
appointment, a third. The Senate necessarily appoints from 
the third. 

52. In any case the presentations and the appointment must 
be consummated within the twenty-four hours which shall 
follow the death of the First Consul. 

53. The law fixes for the life of each First Consul the list 
of the expenses of the Government. 

TITLE V. OF THE SENATE. 

54. The Senate regulates- by an organic senatus-consultum : 
I St. The constitution of the colonies: 

2d. All which has not been provided for by the Constitu- 
tion and which is necessary for its operation: 

3d. It interprets the articles of the Constitution which give 
rise to different interpretations. 

55. The Senate by the decrees entitled senatus-consuha : 
ist. Suspends for five years the functions of juries in the 

departments in which that measure is necessary; 

2d. Declares, when circumstances require it, the depart- 
ments that are outside of the Constitution; 

3d. Determities the time within which the persons arrested 
in virtue of article 46 of the Constitution must be brought 
before the tribunals, when they have not been within ten 
days after their arrest ; 

4th. Annuls the judgments of the tribunals when they 
are injurious to the security of the state; 

5th. Dissolves the Corps-Legislatif and the Tribunate ; 

6th. Appoints the Consuls. 

56. The organic senatus-consulta and the senatus-consulta 
are considered by the Senate, upon the initiative of the Gov- 
ernment. 

A simple majority suffices for the senatus-consulta; there 
must be two-thirds of the votes of the members present for 
an organic senatus-consultum. 

57. The proposals for senatus-consulta, made in conse- 
quence of articles 55 and 56, are discussed in a privy council, 
composed of the Consuls, two Ministers, two Senators, two 



334 



CONSULATE i^OR LIFE 



Councillors of State, and two grand officers of the Legion of 
Honor. 

The First Consul designates at each sitting the members 
who shall compose the privy council. 

58. The First Consul ratifies treaties of peace and alliance, 
after having taken the opinion of the privy council. 

Before promulgating them, he gives notice of them to the 
Senate. 

59. The decree of appointment of a member of the Corps- 
Legislatif, the Tribunate, and the Tribunal of Cassation is 
entitled arrefe. 

60. The decrees of the Senate relative to its police and its 
internal administration are entitled deliberations. 

61. In the course of the Year XI appointments shall be 
made of the forty citizens to complete the number of the 
eighty senators fixed by article 15 of the Constitution. 

These appointments shall be made by the Senate, upon, 
the presentation of the First Consul, who, for this presenta- 
tion and for the further presentations within the number of 
eighty, takes three persons from the list of citizens prepared 
by the electoral colleges. 

62. The members of the grand council of the Legion of 
Honor are members of the Senate, whatever may be their 
ages. 

63. The First Consul can, in addition, appoint to the Sen- 
ate, without previous presentation by the department electoral 
colleges, citizens distinguished by their services and their 
talents, on condition, nevertheless, that they shall be of the age 
required by the Constitution, and that the number of sen- 
ators shall in no case exceed one hundred and twenty. 

64. The senators can be Consuls, ministers, members of 
the Legion of Honor, inspectors of public instruction, and 
employees in extraordinary and temporary missions. 

The Senate appoints each year two of its members to fill 
the functions of secretaries. 

65. The Ministers have seats in the Senate, but without 
deliberative voice unless they are Senators. 

TITLE VI. OF THE COUNCILLORS OF STATE. 

66. The Councillors of State shall never exceed the num- 
ber of fifty. 



CONSULATE FOR LIFE 335 

67. The Council of State is divided into sections. 

68. The ministers have rank, seats and deHberative voice 
in the Council of State. 

TITLE VII. OF THE CORFS-LEGISLATIF. 

69. Each department shall have in the Corps-Legislatif a 
number of members proportionate to the extent of its pop- 
ulation in conformity with the appended table. 

70. All members of the Corps-Legislatif belonging to the 
same deputation are appointed at the same time. 

71. The departments of the Republic are divided into five 
series, in conformity with the appended table. 

72. The present deputies are classed in the five series. 

'j'^,. They shall be renewed in the year to which shall be- 
long the series in which the department shall be placed to which 
they shall have been attached. 

74. Nevertheless, the deputies who have been appointed 
in the Year X shall complete their five years. 

75. The Government convokes, adjourns and prorogues 
the Corps-Legislatif. 

TITLE VIIL OF THE TRIBUNATE. 

'jfi. Dating from the Year XIII, the Tribunate shall be re- 
duced to fifty members. 

Half of the fifty shall retire every third year. Until this 
reduction, the retiring members shall not be replaced. 

The Tribunate is divided into sections. 

"jj. The Corps-Legislatif and the Tribunate are renewed 
in their whole membership when the Senate has decreed their 
dissolution. 

IITLE IX. OF JUSTICE AND THE TRIBUNALS. 

78. There is a high-judge minister of justice. 

79. He has a distinguished place in the Senate and the 
Council of State. 

80. He presides over the Tribunal of Cassation and the 
tribunals of appeal, when the Government thinks it desirable. 

81. He has the right of surveillance and reproof over the 
tribunals, the members who compose them, and the justices 
of the peace. 

82. The Tribunal of Cassation, presided over by him, has 
the right of censure and discipline over the tribunals of appeal 
and the criminal tribunals : it can, for grave cause, suspend 



3Z^ 



LEGION OF HONOR LAW 



the judges from their functions, and cite them before the high 
judge, in order to there render account of their conduct. 

83. The tribunals of appeal have the right of surveillance 
over the civil tribunals of their jurisdiction, and the civil 
tribunals over the justices of the peace of their district. 

84. The commissioner of the Government to the Tribunal 
of Cassation supervises the commissioners to the tribunals of 
appeal and the criminal tribunals. 

The commissioners to the tribunals of appeal supervise 
the commissioners to the civil tribunals. 

85. The members of the Tribunal of Cassation are ap- 
pointed by the Senate, upon the presentation of the First Con- 
sul. 

The First Consul presents three persons lor each vacant 
place. 

TITLE X. RIGHT OF PARDONf 

86. The First Consul has the right to pardon. 

He exercises it after having heard in a privy council the 
high- judge, two ministers, two senators, two Councillors of 
State, and two judges of the Tribunal of Cassation. 

[The appended tables are omitted.] 



67. Law for Organizing the Legion of Honor. 

May 19. 1S02 (29 Floreal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 
199-200. 

This law created one of the most enduring and characteristic 
of The institutions of Napoleon. It still exists and membership is 
highly prized. The provisions in relation to the admission of 
members and the oath of the Legion should be particularly no- 
ticed. 

Refekexces. Rose, Naijoleon, I, 262-265 ; Sloane, Napoleon,. 
II, 158-159 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 231-234 ; Lavlsse and Rambaud, 
Histoire Generale, IX, 31-32. 



TITLE I. CREATION AND ORGANIZA'lION OF THE LEGION OF 
HONOR. 

I. In fulfillment of article 87 of the constitution, concern- 
ing military rewards, and in order also to reward civil services 
and virtues, there shall be formed a Legion of Honor. 



LEGION OF HONOR LAW 



337 



2. This legion shall be composed of a grand council of 
administration and fifteen cohorts, each of which shall have 
its own headquarters. 

3. National lands providing two hundred thousand francs 
of income shall be appropriated for each cohort. 

4. The grand council of administration shall be composed 
of seven grand officers, to wit: the three Consuls, and four 
other members, one of whom shall be appointed from among 
the senators by the Senate, another from among the mem- 
bers of the Corps-Legislatif by the Corps-Legislatif, another 
from among the members of the Tribunate by the Tribunate, 
and, lastly, one from among the Councillors of State by the 
Council of State. The members of the grand council of admin- 
istration shall retain during their lives the title of grand of- 
ficer, even though they may be replaced as the result of new 
elections. 

5. The First Consul is ex-oMcio head of the Legion and 
president of the grand council of administration. 

6. Each cohort shall be composed of seven grand officers, 
twenty commandants, thirty officers, and three hundred and 
fifty legionaries. 

Memberships in the Legion are for life. 

7. There shall be appropriated for each grand officer five 
thousand francs ; 

For each commandant, two thousand francs; 
For each officer, a thousand francs ; 
For each legionary, two hundred and fifty francs. 
These stipends shall be taken from the lands appropriated 
for each cohort, 

8. Each person admitted to the Legion shall swear upon 
his honor to devote himself to the service of the Republic, to 
the preservation of its territory in its integrity, to the defence 
of its Government, its laws and the properties which they 
have consecrated; to combat with all the means that justice, 
reason and the laws authorise, every undertaking having a ten- 
dency to re-estabHsh the feudal regime, or to reproduce the 
titles and quahties which were symbolical of it; lastly, to assist 
with all his power in the maintenance of liberty and equality. 

9. There shall be established in each head-quarters of a 
cohort a hospital and dwellings to receive either the members 



338 LEGION OF HONOR LAW 

of the Legion whose age, infirmities or wounds may have 
made it impossible for them to serve the State, or the mihtary 
men who, after having been wounded in the war for Hberty, 
may find themselves in need. 

TITLE II. COMPOSITION. 

1. All military men who have received arms of honor are 
members of the Legion. 

The military men who have rendered important services to 
the State in the war for liberty ; 

The citizens who by their knowledge, their talents or their 
virtues, have contributed to the establishment or defence of the 
principles of the Republic, or have made justice or the public 
administration loved and respected shall be eligible for ap- 
pointment. 

2. The grand council of administration shall appoint the 
members of the Legion. 

3. During the ten years of peace which shall follow the 
first formation, the places which become vacant shall remain 
vacant to the extent of a tenth, and in succession to the extent 
of a fifth. These places shall be filled only at the end of the 
first campaign. 

4. In times of war there shall be no appointments to 
vacant places except at the end of each campaign. 

5. In times of war distinguished acts shall furnish a title 
for all the grades. 

6. In times of peace one must have had twenty-five years 
of military service in order to be appointed a member of the 
Legion; the 3^ears of service in time of war shall count double 
and each campaign of the last war shall count for four years. 

7. Great services rendered to the State in legislative func- 
tions, diplomacy, administration, justice or the sciences, shall 
also be titles for admission, provided th*- person who shall have 
rendered them has made part of the National Guard of the 
place of his domicile. 

8. After the first organization, no one can be admitted into 
the Legion who has- not performed his functions for twenty- 
five years with the requisite distinction. 

9. After the first organization, no one can advance to a 
higher grade except after having passed through the lower 
grade. 



COLONIAL SLAVERY LAW 339 

10. The details of the organization shall be determined 
by the public regulations of administration : they must be 
made by i Vendemiare, Year XII, and that time passed, noth- 
ing in them can be change'd except through laws. 



68. Law for Re-establishing Slavery in the French 
Colonies. 

May 20, 1802 (30 Floreal, Year X). Duvergier, Lois, XIII, 

208. 

During the interval between the peace of Amiens and the re- 
newial of the war with England, Napoleon was engaged upon a 
vast design for the restoration of the once extensive colonial 
empire of France. His plan included the establishment of French 
colonies in America, India and Australia. This law was intended 
to promote the first step towards the realization of the American 
branch of the scheme, the re-establishment of French authority 
in San Domingo. It had precisely the opposite effect. 

References. Rose, Napoleon, I, Ch. xv ; Henry Adams, His- 
tory of the United States, I, Chs. xiii-xvi^ passim, for Napoleon's 
colonial plans. 

1. In the colonies restored to France in fulfilment of the 
treaty of Amiens of 6 Germinal, Year X, slavery shall be 
maintained in conformity v^ith the laws and regulations in 
force prior to 1789. 

2. The same shall be done in the other French colonies 
beyond the Cape of Good Hope. 

3. The trade in the blacks and their importation into the 
said colonies shall take place in conformity with the laws and 
regulations existing prior to the said date of 1789. 

4. Notwithstanding all previous laws, the government of 
the colonies is subject for ten years to the regulations which 
shall be made by the Government. 



69. Declaration of France upon the Reorganization 
of Germany. 

August 18, 1802. De Clercq, Traites, I, 596-603. 

The reorganization of Germany through the reces; adopted by 



340 



REORGANIZATION OF GERMANY 



the Diet at Ratisbon on March 24, 1803, was substantially along 
the lines dictated by Napoleon in this document. The length of 
the passage containing the suggested changes has made necessary 
its omission ; the chief feature was the elimination of the eccle- 
siastical princes, nearly all of the city republics, and the knights 
of the Empire, through the transfer of their territories to other 
states or princes who had lost their possessions in the countries 
which France had revolutionized. The portion here given shows 
something of the circumstances which made possible the interven- 
tion of France ,and the manner in which the transaction was ofla- 
cially represented. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 247-257 (Popular ed., 
166-173) ; P^ournier, Napoleon, 257-262 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 169- 
171 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 67-69. 

The First Consul of the French Repubhc. being animated 
by the desire to contribute to the consolidation of the repose of 
the Germanic Empire, no method has appeared to him m.ore 
suitable for obtaining this object of his solicitude than that 
of formulating in a plan of indemnity, as well adapted to re- 
spective convenience as circumstances have permitted, an ar- 
rangement calculated to produce that salutary result; and an 
agreement of views having been established in this matter 
between the First Consul of the French Republic and His Im- 
perial Majesty of all the Russias, he [the First Consul] has 
authorised the Minister of Foreign Affairs to co-operate with 
the Minister Plenipotentiary of His Imperial Majesty of Rus- 
sia upon the most suitable means of applying the principles 
adopted regarding these indemnifications for the different 
demands of the interested parties. The result of this effort 
having obtained his approval, he has ordered the undersigned 
to bring it to the knov/ledge of the Diet of the Empire by the 
present declaration, a measure to which the First Consul of 
the French Republic, as well as His Imperial Majesty, have 
been determined by the following considera;tions : 

Article VII of the Treaty of Luneville, having stipulated 
that the hereditary Princes, whose possessions were included in 
the cession made to France of the countries situated upon the 
left of the Rhine, should be indemnified, it has been recognized 
that, in conformity with what had been formerly decided upon 
at the Congress of Rastadt, this indemnification should be ear- 
ned out by way of secularization ; but, although perfectly 
agreed upon the basis of indemnification, the interested States 



REORGANIZATION OF GERMANY 



341 



have continued so opposed in views upon the distribution that 
it has appeared until now impossible to proceed to the ex- 
ecution of the aforesaid article of the Treaty of Luneville. 

And although the Diet of the Empire has appointed a com- 
mission especially charged to occupy itself with this important 
matter, it is well enough seen, by the obstacles which its meet- 
ing encounters, how much the opposition of interests and the 
jealousy of pretensions place obstacles in the way of that 
which the regulation of the indemnities in Empire derives from 
the spontaneous action of the Germanic Body. 

It is this which has caused the First Consul of the Repub- 
lic and His Majesty the Emperor of Russia to think that it 
was fitting for two perfectly disinterested Powers to present 
their mediation and to offer for the deliberation of the Imperial 
Diet a general plan of indemnity, drawn up according to cal- 
culations of the most rigorous impartiality, and in which an 
endeavor has been made both to compensate the recognized 
losses and to preserve among the principal Houses in Germany 
the equilibrium which existed before the war. 

In consequence, after having examined with the most 
scrupulous attention, all the memoirs presented by the inter- 
ested parties, as well upon the value of the losses as upon 
the demands for indemnity, they have remained agreed to 
propose that the indemnification should be accorded in the 
following manner : 



Such is the total of the arrangements and considerations 
which the undersigned has been ordered to present to the Im- 
perial Diet, and upon which he believes that he ought to call 
for the most prompt and serious deliberation, expressing to -It, 
in the name of his Government, that the interest of Germany, 
the consolidation of the general peace and tranquility of Eu- 
rope, demand that everything which concerns the regulation 
of the Germanic indemnities should be terminated within the 
space of two months. 



Signed, Ch. Mau. Talleyrand. 



342 TREATY WITH SPAIN 

70. Treaty with Spain. 



October 19, 1803 (26 Vendemaire, Year XII). De Clercq, 
Traitcs, II, 82-84. 

Shortly after the renewal of the war with England, Napoleon 
made a series of treaties with the states dependent upon France. 
This document is typical o^ the series. It illustrates one of Na- 
poleon's methods of supporting his wars and shows the character 
of the relationship existing between France and Spain. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 268-269 ; Rose, Napoleon, I, 
403-404; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 184; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II,- 310- 
319. 



The First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of 
the French People, and His Majesty the King of Spain, de- 
siring to prevent the consequences of the misunderstanding to 
which the present difficulties between the two Governments 
tend to give birth and wishing at the same time to establish for 
the time of the present war, in a manner more conformable to 
circumstances and the interests of the two States, the interpre- 
tation of the treaties which unite them. . 

3. The First Consul consents that the obligations im- 
posed upon Spain by the treaties which unite the two States 
shall be converted into a pecuniary subsidy of six millions per 
month, which shall be furnished by Spain to its ally, dating 
from the renewal of hostilities until the end of the present 
war. 

6. In consideration of the above stipulated clauses and 
during all the time in which they shall be carried out, France 
will recognize the neutrality of Spain, and it promises not to 
make opposition to any of the measures which may be taken 
with respect to the belligerent nations in virtue of the general 
principles and laws of neutrality. 

7. His Most Catholic Majesty, having at heart to prevent 
all the difficulties which may arise with respect to the neu- 
trality of his territory, in the event of a war between the 
French Republic and Portugal, binds himself to cause to be 
furnished by this latter Power, and in virtue of a convention 
which shall be kept secret, the sum of one million per 
m.onth . . . ; and in consideration of this subsidv, the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 343 

neutrality of Portugal shall be consented to on the part of 
France. 



71. SenatLiS'Consuitum. 



May IS, 1804 (28 Floreal, Year XII). Duvergier, Lois, X\% 
1-12. 

Through this measure the life consulate was transformed inta 
the Empire. The document is in fact a new imperial constitution 
and is often called the Constitution of the Year XII. It should 
be compared with the constitutions of the years VIII and X (Nos. 
58 and 66 E). Most of the institutions created by the two preced- 
ing constitutions were retained, but with important alterations 
which should be noticed. A number of new institutions also call 
for notice. The question of establishing the imperial dignity, but 
not the whole document, was submitted to populiar vote. 

References. Fournier, l^japoleon, 275-282 ; Rose, 'Napoleon, 
I, 429-432 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 204-207 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, II, 
398-402, 406-415 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 
35-37, 224-229 ; , Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 771-778. 



TITLE I. 

1. The Government of the French Republic is entrusted to 
an emperor, who takes the title of Emperor of the French. 

Justice is administered in the name of the Emperor by the 
officers whom he appoints. 

2. Napoleon Bonaparte, present First Consul of the Re- 
public, is Emperor of the French. 

TITLE II. OF THE INHERITANCE. 

3. The imperial dignity is hereditary in the direct natural 
and legitimate lineage of Napoleon Bonaparte, from male 
to male, by order of primogeniture, and to the perpetual ex- 
clusion of women and their descendants. 

4. Napoleon Bonaparte can adopt the children or grand- 
children of his brothers, provided they have fully reached the 
age of eighteen years, and he himself has no male children at 
the moment of adoption. 

His adopted sons enter into the line of his direct descen- 
dants. 

If, subsequently to the adoption, male children come to him, 



344 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



his adopted sons can be appointed only after the natural and 
legitimate descendants. 

Adoption is forbidden to the successors of Napoleon Bona- 
parte and their descendants. 

5. In default of a natural and legitimate heir or an adopted 
heir of Napoleon Bonaparte, the imperial dignity is devolved 
and bestowed upon Joseph Bonaparte and his natural and 
legitimate descendants, by order of primogeniture, from male 
to male, to the perpetual exclusion of women and their _ de- 
scendants. 

6. In default of Joseph Bonaparte and his male descend- 
ants, the imperial dignity is devolved and bestowed upon Louis 
Bonaparte and his natural and legitimate descendants, by order 
of primogeniture, from male to male, to the perpetual exclusion 
of women and their descendants. 

7. In default of a natural and legitimate heir and of an 
adopted heir of Napoleon Bonaparte ; 

In default of natural and legitimate heirs of Joseph Bona- 
parte and his male descendants ; 

Of Louis Bonaparte and his male descendants ; 

An organic senatus-consultum, proposed to the Senate by 
the titular high dignitaries of the Empire and submitted for 
the acceptance of the people, appoints the Emperor and controls 
in his f?.mily the order of inheritance, from male to male, to 
the perpetual exclusion of women and their descendants. 

8. Until the moment in w^hich the election of the new- 
emperor is completed, the affairs of the State are directed 
by the ministers, who form themselves into a Council of 
Government and w4io make their decisions by a majority of 
votes. The Secretary of State keeps the register of the delib- 
erations. 

TITLE III. OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. 

9. The members of the imperial family within the order 
of inheritance bear the title of French Princes. 

The eldest son of the Emperor bears that of Prince 
Imperial. 

10. A senatus-consultum regulates the manner of the edu- 
cation of the French Princes. 

11. They are members of the Senate and of the Council 
of State when they have reached their eighteenth year. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 345; 

12. They cannot marry without the authorisation of the 
Emperor. 

The marriage of a French Prince made without the author- 
isation of the Emperor entails deprivation of all right of in- 
heritance, both for him who contracts it and for his descend- 
ants. 

Nevertheless, if there is no child from this marriage, and it 
becomes dissolved, the prince who had contracted it recovers 
his rights of inheritance. 

13. The documents which attest the birth, marriages,, 
and decease of the members of the imperial family, are trans- 
mitted upon an order of the Emperor to the Senate, which 
orders their transcription upon its registers and their de- 
posit in its archives. 

14. Napoleon Bonaparte establishes by statutes, to which 
his successors are required to conform : 

1st. The duties of the persons of both sexes, members of 
the imperial family, towards the Emperor; 

2d. An organization of the imperial palace in conformity 
with the dignity of the throne and the grandeur of the nation. 

15. The civil list remains as it has been regulated by 
articles i and 4 of the decree of May 26 — ^June i, 1791. 

The French Princes, Joseph and Louis Bonaparte, and, 
for the future, the younger natural and legitimate sons of the 
Emperor, shall be treated in conformity with articles i, 10, 11, 
12 and 13 of the decree of December 21, 1790 — April 6, 1791. 

The Emperor can fix the jointure of the Empress and as- 
sign it out of the civil list; his successors can change none of 
the dispositions which he shall have made in this respect. 

16. The Emperor visits the departments : in consequence, 
imperial palaces are established at the four principal points of 
the Empire. 

These palaces are designated and their appointments de- 
termined by a law. 

TITLE IV. OF THE REGENCY. 

17. The Emperor is a minor until he has fully completed 
eighteen years; during his minority there is a regent of the 
Empire. 

18. The regent must be at least fully twenty-five years of 
age. 

Women are excluded from the regencv. 



346 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

19. The Emperor designates the regent from among the 
French Princes who are of the age required by the preceding 
article, and in defauh of them, from among the titular grand 
dignitaries of the Empire. 

20. In default of designation on the part of the Emperor, 
the regency is bestowed upon the prince the nearest in degree 
in the order of inheritance, who has fully completed twenty- 
five years. 

21. If, the Emperor not having designated the regent, 
none of the French Princes have fully completed twenty-five 
years, the Senate elects the regent from the titular grand dig- 
nitaries of the Empire. 

22. If, by reason of the minority in age of the prince sum- 
moned to the regency in the order of heredity, it has been be- 
stowed upon a more remote kinsman, or upon one of the tit- 
ular grand dignitaries of the Empire, the regent who has enter- 
ed upon his functions continues until the majority of the Em- 
peror. 

23. No organic senatus-consultum can be issued during the 
regency, nor before the end of the third year which follows 
the majority. 

24. The regent exercises, until the majority of the 
Emperor, all the attributes of the imperial dignity. 

Nevertheless, he cannot make appointments to the high dig- 
nities of the Empire, nor to the places of the grand officers, 
which may be vacant at the time of the regency, or which 
may become vacant during the minority, nor use the preroga- 
tive reserved to the Emperor to raise citizens to the rank of 
senator. 

He cannot dismiss the grand judge nor the Secretary of 
State. 

25. He is not personally responsible for the acts of his 
administration. 

26. All the acts of the regency are in the name of the 
minor Emperor. 

27. The regent does not propose any project of law or of 
senatus-consultum, nor adopt any rule of public administration 
until after he has taken the opinion of the Council of Regency, 
composed of the titular high dignitaries of the Empire. 

He cannot declare war, nor sign treaties of peace, alliance. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 347 

or commerce until after deliberation over it in the Council 
of Regency, whose members, for this case alone, have deliber- 
ative voice. The decision is by a majority of the votes ; and if 
there is an equal division, it passes, according to the opinion 
of the regent. 

The minister of foreign affairs takes a seat in the Council 
of Regency, when this council deliberates over matters relative 
to his department. 

The grand judge minister of justice can be summoned there 
by order of the regent. 

The Secretary of State keeps the register of its deliberations. 

28. The regency does not confer any right over the person 
of the minor Emperor. 

29. The stipend of the regent is fixed at one-fourth of the 
sum of the civil list. 

30. The guardianship of the minor Emperor is confided 
to his mother, and in her default, to the prince designated for 
that purpose by the predecessor of the minor Emperor, 

In default of the mother of the minor Emperor and of a 
prince designated by the Emperor, the Senate confides the 
guardianship of the minor Emperor to one of the titular grand 
dignitaries of the Empire. 

Neither the regent and his descendants nor women can 
be chosen for the guardianship of the minor Emperor. 

31. In case Napoleon Bonaparte shall make use of the 
power conferred upon him by article 4, title 11, the document 
of adoption shall be drawn up in the presence of the titular 
grand dignitaries of the Empire, received by the Secretary of 
State and transmitted immediately to the Senate in order to 
be transcribed upon its registers and deposited in its archives. 

When the Emperor designates either a regent for the 
minority or a prince for the guardianship of a minor Emperor, 
the same formalities are observed. 

The documents of designation, either of a regent for the 
minority or a prince for the guardianship of a minor Em- 
peror, are revocable at will by the Emperor. 

Every document of adoption, of designation or of rev- 
ccation of designation which shall not have been transcribed 
upon the registers of the Senate before the decease of the 
Emperor shall be null and void. 



348 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

TITLE V. OF THE GRAND DIGNITARIES OF THE EMPIRE. 

32. The grand dignitaries of the Empire are these: 

Grand elector, 

Archchancellor of the Empire, 

Archchancellor of State, 

Archtreasurer, 

Constable, 

Grand admiral. 

2S- Tlie titular grand dignitaries of the Empire are 
appointed by the Emperor. 

They enjoy the same honors as the French Princes and take 
lank immediately after them. 

The date of their reception determines the rank which they 
respectively occupy. 

34. The high dignitaries of the Empire are irremovable, 

35. The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire are Sen- 
ators [and] Councillors of State. 

36. They form the grand council of the Emperor; 
They are members of the privy council ; 

They compose the grand council of the Legion of Honor. 

The present members of the grand council of the Legion of 
Honor preserve their titles, functions and prerogatives for 
the duration of their lives. 

S/. The Senate and the Council of State are presided over 
by the Emperor. 

When the Emperor does not preside over the Senate or the 
Council of State, he designates the one of the titular high 
dignitaries of the Empire who must preside. 

38. All the decrees of the Senate and of the Corps-Legis- 
latif are rendered in the name of the Emperor and are promul- 
gated or published under the imperial seal. 

39. The grand elector performs the functions of chancellor : 
I St, For the convocation of the Corps-Legislatif, the elec- 
toral colleges and the cantonal assemblies ; 2d, for the promul- 
gation of the senatus-consulta providing for the dissolution 
either of the Corps-Legislatif or of the electoral colleges. 

The grand elector presides in the absence of the Emperor 
when the Senate proceeds to the appointment of senators, 
legislators, and tribunes. 

He can reside in the palace of the Senate. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 349 

He brings to the knowledge of the Emperor the claims 
formulated by the electoral colleges or the cantonal assemblies, 
for the preservation of their prerogatives. 

When a member of an electoral college is denounced, in 
conformity v^^ith article 21 of the organic senatus-consultum of 
16 Thermidor, Year X, as being involved in some act preju- 
dicial to honor or the fatherland, the grand elector invites the 
college to express its opinion. He brings the opinion of the 
college to the knowledge of the Emperor. 

The grand elector presents to the members of the Senate, 
the Council of State, the Corps-Legislatif, and the Tribunate, 
the oath which they take at the hands of the Emperor. 

He receives the oath of the presidents of the department 
electoral colleges and of the cantonal assemblies. 

He presents the solemn deputations of the Senate, Coun- 
cil of State, Corps-Legislatif, Tribunate, and the electoral col- 
leges when they are admitted to the audience of the Emperor. 

40. The archchancellor of the Empire performs the func- 
tions of chancellor for the promulgation of the organic senatus- 
consulta and the laws. 

He performs, likewise, those of chancellor of the imperial 
palace. 

He is present at the annual report in which the high judge 
minister of justice gives an account to the Emperor of the 
abuses which may have. been introduced into the administra- 
tion of either civil or criminal justice. 

He presides over the high imperial court. 

He presides over the united sections of the Council of 
State, and of the Tribunate, in conformity with article 95, 
title XI. 

He is present at the celebration of the marriages and at the 
birth of the princes, at the coronation and at the obsequies of 
the Emperor. He signs the record which the Secretary of 
State draws up. 

He presents to the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, 
the ministers and the Secretary of State, the grand civil offi- 
cers of the crown, and the first president of the Court of Cas- 
sation, the oath which they take at the hands of the Emperor, 

He receives the oath of the members and of the bar of 



350 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



the Court of Cassation, and of the presidents and procureurs- 
general of the courts of appeal and the criminal courts. 

He presents the solemn deputations and the members of the 
courts of justice admitted to the audience of the Emperor. 

He signs and seals the commissions and warrants of the 
members of the courts of justice and of the ministerial offi- 
cers ; he seals the commissions and warrants of civil functions, 
administrative and other certificates which shall be designated 
in the regulation providing for the organization of the seal. . 

41. The archchancellor of state performs the functions of 
chancellor for the promulgation of treaties of peace and alli- 
ance and for declarations of war. 

He presents to the Emperor and signs the letters of credence 
and the ceremonial correspondence with the different courts 
of Europe, drawn up according to the forms of the imperial 
formulary of which he is the keeper. 

He is present at the annual report in which the minister 
of foreign affairs gives an account to the Emperor of the 
political situation of the State. 

He presents to the ambassadors and ministers of the Em- 
peror at foreign courts the oath which they take at the hands 
of His Imperial Alajesty. 

He receives the oath of the resident charges d'affaires, 
secretaries of embassy and legation, commissioners-general and 
commissioners of commercial relations. 

He presents the extraordinary ambassadors and ambas- 
sadors, and French and foreign ministers. 

42. The archtreasurer is present at the annual report in 
which the ministers of finance and of the public treasury render 
to the Emperor the accounts of the receipts and expenditures 
of the State and express their views upon the needs of the 
finances of the Empire. 

The accounts of the annual receipts and expenditures are 
endorsed with his signature before being presented to the 
Emperor. 

He receives, every three months, the statement of the re- 
port of the national accounting, and every year the general 
result and the views for reform and improvement in the dif- 
ferent parts of the accounting ; he brings them to the knowl- 
edge of the Emperor. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



351 



He audits every year the ledger of the public debt. 

He signs the warrants for the civil pensions. 

He presides over the united sections of the Council of 
State and of the Tribunate, in conformity with article 95, 
title XI. 

He receives the oath of the members of the national ac- 
counting, of the finance administrations, and of the principal 
agents of the Public Treasury. 

He presents the deputations of the national accountants and 
of the finance administrations admitted to the audience of the 
Emperor. 

43. The constable is present at the annual report in which 
the minister of war and the director of the war administration 
render account to the Emperor of the provisions taken to com- 
plete the system of defence of the frontiers, the maintenance, 
repair, and supplying of the posts. 

He lays the first stone of the fortresses whose construction 
is ordered. 

He is governor of the military schools. 

When the Emperor does not in person transmit the flags to 
the corps of the army, they are sent to them in his name by 
the constable. 

In the absence of the Emperor, the constable presides over 
the grand review of the imperial guard. 

When a general d'armce i,s accused of an offence specified 
in the military penal code, the constable can preside over the 
council of war, which must give judgment. 

He presents to the marshals of the Empire, the colonels- 
general, the inspectors-general, the general officers and the 
colonels of all arms, the oaths which they take at the hands 
of the Emperor. 

He receives the oaths of the majors, and leaders of bat- 
talions and squadrons of all arms. 

He installs the marshalls of the Empire. 

He presents the general officers and the colonels, majors, 
and leaders of battalions and squadrons, when they are ad- 
mitted to the audience of the Emperor. 

He signs the warrants of the army and those of the mili- 
tary pensioners of the State. 

44. The grand admiral is present at the annual report in 



^52 



CONSTITUTION OP THE YEAR XII 



which the minister of the navy renders account to the Emperor 
of the condition of the naval forces, arsenals, and supplies. 

He receives annually and presents to the Emperor the ac- 
counts of the marine invalids' fund. 

When an admiral, vice-admiral, or rear-admiral com- 
manding in chief a naval force is accused of an offence speci- 
fied in the marine penal code, the grand admiral can preside 
over the court martial which shall give judgment. 

He presents to the admirals, vice-admirals, rear-admirals, 
and captains of vessels the oath which they take at the hands 
of the Emperor. 

He receives the oaths of the members of the council of 
prizes and the captains of frigates. 

He presents the admirals, vice-admirals, rear-admirals, cap- 
tains of vessels and frigates, and the members of the council 
of prizes, when they are admitted to the audience of the Em- 
peror. 

He signs the warrants of the officers of the naval forces 
iind those of the marine pensioners of the State. 

45. Each of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire 
presides over a department electoral college. 

The electoral college sitting at Brussels is presided over 
Iby the grand elector. 

The electoral college sitting at Bordeaux is presided over 
l^y the archchancellor of the Empire. 

The electoral college sitting at Nantes is presided over by 
ihe archchancellor of State. 

The electoral college sitting at Lyon is presided over by 
the archtreasurer of the Empire. 

The electoral college sitting at Turin is presided over by the 
•constable. 

The electoral college sitting at Marseilles is presided over 
hy the grand admiral. 

46. Each of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire 
receives annually by way of fixed stipend two-thirds of the 
sum appropriated for the princes, in conformity with the de- 
cree of December 21, 1790. 

47. A statute of the Emperor regulates the functions of 
the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire near the Em- 
peror and determines their costumes in the grand ceremonies. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



353 



The successors of the Emperor can deviate from this statute 
only by a senatus-consultum. 

TITLE VI. OF THE GRAND OFFICERS OF THE EMPIRE. 

48. The grand officers of the Empire are : 

First, the marshals of the Empire, chosen from among the 
most distinguished generals. 

Their number cannot exceed that of sixteen. 

The marshals of the Empire who are senators are not part 
of this number. 

Secondly, eight general inspectors and colonels-general of 
artillery and engineers, of cavalry troops and of the navy. 

Thirdly, the grand civil officers of the crown, such as are 
instituted by the statutes of the Emperor. 

49. The positions of the grand officers are irremovable. 

50. Each of the grand officers of the Empire presides over 
an electoral college which is especially set aside for him at the 
moment of his appointment. 

51. If, by an order of the Emperor or by any other cause 
whatsoever, a titular grand dignitary of the Empire or a grand 
officer happens to discontinue his functions, he preserves his 
title, his rank, his privileges, and half of his stipend : he loses 
.these only by a judgment of the high imperial court. 

TITLE VIL OF THE OATHS. 

52. Within the two years which follow his accession or 
his majority, the Emperor, accompanied by 

The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, 

The ministers, 

The grand officers of the Empire, 

Takes oath to the French people upon the Gospel, in the 
presence of : 

The Senate, 
^.^The Council of State, 

The Corps-Legislatif, 

The Tribunate, 

The Court of Cassation, 

The archbishops, 

The bishops. 

The grand officers of the Legion of Honor, 

The national accountants. 

The presidents of the courts of appeal, 
12 



354 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



The presidents of the electoral colleges. 

The presidents of the cantonal assemblies, 

The presidents of the consistories, 

And the mayors of the thirty-six principal cities of the 
Empire. 

The Secretary of State prepares the record of the taking 
of the oath. 

53. The oath of the Emperor is thus expressed : 

"I swear to maintain the integrity of the territory of the 
Republic, to respect and cause to be respected the laws of the 
concordat and the liberty of worship, to respect and cause to 
be respected equality of rights, political and civil liberty, the 
irrevocability of the sales of the national lands ; not to raise 
an\i impost, nor to establish any tax except in virtue of the 
law ; to maintain the institution of the Legion of Honor ; to 
govern in the sole view of the interest, the welfare and the 
glory of the French people-" 

54. Before beginning the exercise of his functions, the 
regent, accompanied by : 

The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, 
The ministers. 

The grand officers of the Empire, 
Takes oath upon the Gospel, and in the presence of 
The Senate, 
The Council of State, 

The president and questors of the Corps-Legislatif, 
The president and the questors of the Tribunate, 
And the grand officers of the Legion of Honor. 
The Secretary of State prepares the record of the taking 
of the oath. 

55. The oath of the regent is expressed in these terms : 
"I swear to administer the affairs of the State, in conform- 
ity with the constitutions of the Empire, the senatus-consulta 
and the laws ; to maintain in all their integrity the territory of 
the Republic, the rights of the nation and those of the imperial 
dignity, and to deliver up to the Emperor, at the moment of 
his majority, the authority, the exercise of which is confided 
to me." 

56. The titular grand dignitaries of the Empire, the min- 
isters and the Secretary of State, the grand officers and the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 3^5 

members of the Senate, the Council of State, the Corps-Legis- 
latif, the Tribunate, the electoral colleges and the cantonal as- 
semblies, take oath in these terms : 

*T swear obedience to the constitutions of the Empire and 
fidelity to the Emperor." 

The public, civil, and judicial functionaries and the officers 
and soldiers of the army and navy take the same oath. 

TITLE VIII. OF THE SENATE. 

57. The Senate is composed: 

1st, Of the French Princes who have reached their eight- 
eenth year; 

2d, Of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire ; 

3d, Of eighty members appointed upon the presentation of 
the candidates chosen by the Emperor from the lists formed 
by the department electoral colleges ; 

4th, Of citizens whom the Emperor deems suitable to be 
raised to the dignity of senator. 

In case the number of the senators shall exceed that which 
has been fixed by article 63 of the organic senatus-consultum 
of 16 Thermidor, Year X, provision shall be made for this 
by a law for the execution of article 17 of the senatus-con- 
sultum of 14 Nivose, Year XI. 

58. The president of the Senate is appointed by the Em- 
peror and chosen from among the senators. 

His functions continue one year. 

59. He convokes the Senate upon an order issued of his 
own accord by the Emperor and upon the request either of the 
commissioners, which will be spoken of hereafter in articles 
6c and 64, or of a isenator, in conformity with the provisions 
of article 70, or of an officer of the Senate for the internal af- 
fairs of the body. 

He gives an account to the Emperor of the convocations 
made upon the request of the commissions or of a senator, 
of their object, and of the results of the deliberations of the 
Senate. 

60. A commission of seven members, appointed by the 
Senate and chosen within its own body, takes cognizance, 
upon the communication made to it by the ministers, of the 
arrests effected in conformity with article 46 of the constitu- 



356 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

tion, when the persons arrested have not been brought before 
the tribunals within ten days after their arrest. 

This commission is called the senatorial commission of per- 
sonal liberty. 

6i. All persons arrested and not put on trial within ten 
days after their arrest, can apply directly by themselves, their 
relatives, or their representatives, and by way of petition, to 
the senatorial commission of personal liberty. 

62. When the commission considers that detention pro- 
longed beyond ten days after arrest is not warranted by the 
interest of the State, it invites the minister who has ordered 
the arrest to cause the detained person to be put at liberty or 
to send him before the ordinary tribunals. 

63. If, after three consecutive invitations, renewed within 
the space of one month, the detained person is not put at 
liberty nor sent before the ordinary tribunals, the commission 
requests a meeting of the Senate, which is convoked by the 
president and which renders, if there is need, the following 
declaration : 

"There are strong presumptions that N is arbitrarily 

detained." 

Thereafter proceedings are in conformity with the provis- 
ions of article 112, title xtii. Of the high imperial court. 

64. A commission of seven members, appointed by the 
Senate and chosen from within its own body, is charged to 
watch over the liberty of the press. 

Periodical works printed and distributed by subscription 
are not included within its powers. 

This commission is called the senatorial commission of the 
liberty of the press. 

65. Authors, printers, or publishers who believe that there 
is ground for complaint over restrictions placed upon the 
printing or circulation of a work can have recourse directly 
and by way of petition to the senatorial commission of the 
liberty of the press. 

66. When the commission thinks that the restrictions are 
not warranted by the interest of the State, it invites the 
minister who has given the order to revoke it. 

67. If, after three consecutive invitations renewed within 
the space of one month, the restrictions remain, the com.mis- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



357 



sion asks for a meeting of the Senate, which is convoked 
by the president and which renders, if there is need, the fol- 
lowing declaration : 

"There are strong presumptions that the liberty of the 
press has been violated." 

After that proceedings are in conformity with the pro- 
vision of article 112, title xiii^ Of the high imperial court 

68. One member of each of these senatorial commissions 
discontinues his functions every four months. 

69. The projects of law decreed by the Corps-Legislatif 
are transmitted to the Senate on the day of their adoption and 
deposited in its archives. 

70. Every decree rendered by the Corps-Legislatif can be 
denounced to the Senate by a Senator : 

1st, As tending to the re-establishment of the feudal re- 
gime; 2d, as contrary to the irrevocability of the sales of the 
national lands ; 3d, as not having been deliberated upon in the 
forms prescribed by the constitutions of the Empire, the regu- 
lations and the laws ; 4th, as constituting an attack upon the 
prerogatives of the imperial dignity and those of the Senate ; 
without prejudice to the execution of articles 21 and 37 of the 
acte of the constitutions of the Empire of the date of 22 
Frimaire, Year VIIL 

71. The Senate, within the six days which follow the 
adoption of the project of law, deliberating upon the report 
of a special commission, and after having heard three read- 
ings of the decree in three sittings held on different days, 
can express the opinion that the7'e is no need to promulgate 
the law. 

The president conveys to the Emperor the resolution of 
the Senate with a statement of the motives for it. 

y2. The Emperor, after having heard the Council of State, 
either declares by a decree his adherence to the resolution 
of the Senate, or causes the promulgation of the law. 

72- Any law whose promulgation under that circumstance 
has not taken place before the expiration of the interval 
of ten days, can no longer be promulgated, unless it has been 
newly deliberated upon and adopted by the Corps-Legislatif. 

74. The entire operations of an electoral college and the 
partial operations which are relative to the presentation of 



358 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

the candidates to the Senate, Corps-Legislatif, and Tribunate 
cannot be annulled on account of unconstitutionality, except 
by a senatus-consultum. 

TITLE IX. OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. 

75. When the Council of State deliberates upon projects 
of law or regulations of public administration, two-thirds 
of the members of the council in ordinary service must be 
present. 

The number of the Councillors of State present cannot" be 
less than twenty-five. 

76. The Council of State is divided into six sections, to 
wit : 

Section of legislation, 

Section of the interior, 

Section of the finances, 

Section of war, 

Section of the navy. 

And section of commerce. 

'jy. When a member of the Council of State has been 
carried for five years uDon the list of the members of the coun- 
cil in ordinary service he receives a commission of Coun- 
cillor of State for life. 

When he ceases to be carried upon the list of the Council 
of State in ordinary or extraordinary service, he has a right 
to but one-third of tne stipend of Councillor of State. 

He loses his title and his rights only by a judgment of the 
high imperial court, involving afiflictive or infamous penalty. 

TITLE X. OF THE CORPS-LEGISLATIF. 

78. The retiring members of the Corps-Legislatif can be 
re-elected without interval. 

79. The projects of law presented to the Corps-Legislatif 
are sent back to the three sections of the Tribunate. 

80. The sittings of the Corps-Legislatif are divided into 
ordinary sittings and committees of the whole. 

81. The ordinary sittings are composed of the members 
of the Corps-Legislatif, the orators of the Council of State, 
and the orators of the three sections of the Tribunate. 

The committees of the whole are composed only of the 
members of the Corps-Legislatif. 

The president of the Corps-Legislatif presides over the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 359 

ordinary sittings and over the committees of the whole. 

82. In ordinary sitting, the Corps-Legislatif hears the or- 
ators of the Council of State and those of the three sections 
of the Tribunate, and votes upon the project of law. 

In committee of the whole, the members of the Corps-Leg- 
islatif discuss among themselves the advantages and disad- 
vantages of the project of law, 

83. The Corps-Legislatif forms itself into committee of 
the whole : 

1st. Upon the invitation of the president, for the internal 
affairs of the body; 

2d. Upon a request made to the president and signed by 
fifty members present ; 

In these two cases the committee of the whole is secret, 
and the discussions shall not be printed nor divulged. 

3d. Upon the request of the orators of the Council of 
State, especially authorised for that purpose. 

In this case the committee of the whole is necessarily pub- 
lic. 

No decision can be reached in the committees of the whole. 

84. When the discussion in committee of the whole is 
closed, the decision is adjourned to the next day in ordinary 
sitting. 

85. The Corps-Legislatif, on the day when it must vote 
upon the project of law, hears, in the same sitting, the resume 
which the orators of the Council of State offer. 

86- The decision over a project of law cannot in any 
case be deferred more than three days beyond that which 
has been fixed for the closing of the discussion. 

87. The sections of the Tribunate constitute the only 
commissions of the Corps-Legislatif, which can form others 
only in the case provided for in article 113, title xiir. Of 
the high imperial court. 

TITLE XI. OF THE TRIBUNATE. 

88. The functions of the members of the Tribunate con- 
tinue ten years. 

89. The Tribunate is renewed by half every five years. 
The first renewal shall take place for the session of the 

\"ear XVII, in conformity with the organic senatus-consultum 
cf 16 Thermidor, Year X. 



36o CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

go. The president of the Tribunate is appointed by the 
Emperor out of a presentation of three candidates made by 
the Tribunate by secret ballot and a majority, 

91. The functions of the president of the Tribunate con- 
tinue two years. 

92. The Tribunate has two questors. 

They are appointed by the Emperor out of a triple list of 
candidates chosen by the Tribunate by secret ballot and a 
majority. 

Their functions are the same as those assigned to the 
questors of the Corps-Legislatif by articles 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 
24 and 25 of the organic senatus-consultum of 24 Frl- 
maire, Year XII. 

One of the questors is renewed each year. 

93. The Tribunate is divided into three sections, to wit: 
Section of legislation, 

Section of the interior, 
Section of the finances. 

94. Each section forms a list of three of its members 
from whom the president of the Tribunate designates the 
president of the section. 

The functions of the president of a section continue one 
year. 

95. When the respective sections of the Council of State 
and the Tribunate ask to unite, the conferences take place 
under the presidency of the archchancellor of the Empire or 
of the archtreasurer, according to the nature of the matters 
to be examined. 

96. Each section discusses, separately and in sectional 
meeting, the projects of law which are transmitted to it by 
the Corps-Legislatif, 

Two orators of each of the three sections carry to the 
Corps-Legislatif the opinion of their section, and explain the 
grounds for it. 

97. In no case can the projects of law be discussed by 
the Tribunate in general assembly. 

It unites in general assembl}^, under the presidency of its 
president, for the exercise of its other attributes. 

TITLE XII, OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES. 

98. Whenever a department electoral college meets for the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 361 

formation of the list of candidates for the Corps-Legislatif, 
the Hsts of candidates for the Senate are renewed. 

Each renewal renders the former presentations of no effect. 

99. The grand officers, the commandants, and the officers 
of the Legion of Honor are members of the electoral college 
of the department in which they have their domicile, or of 
one of the departments for the cohort to which they belong. 

The legionaries are members of the electoral college of 
their district. 

The members of the Legion of Honor are admitted to the 
electoral college, of which they shall form part, upon the 
presentation of a certificate which is delivered to them for 
that purpose by the grand elector. 

100. The prefects and the military commandants of the de- 
partments cannot be elected candidates for the Senate by the 
electoral colleges of the departments in which they exercise 
their functions. 

TITLE XIII. OF THE HIGH IMPERIAL COURT. 

loi. A high imperial court' takes cognizance : 

I St. Of the personal offences committed by the members 
of the imperial family, by the titular grand dignitaries of the 
Empire, by the ministers and the secretary of state, by the 
grand officers, by the senators, and by the councillors of state ; 

2d. Of crimes, attempts, and conspiracies against the in- 
ternal and external security of the state, the person of the 
Emperor and that of the heir presumptive of the Empire ; 

3d. Of offences of responsibility of ofUce committed by 
the ministers and councillors of state especially charged with 
a part of the public administration ; 

4th. Of betrayals of trust and abuse of power, committed 
either by the captains-general of the colonies, the colonial 
prefects and commandants of French establishments outside 
of the continent, or by the administrators-general employed 
extraordinarily, or by the generals of the army or navy ; 
without prejudice, in respect to these, of prosecutions by 
the military jurisdiction in the cases determined by the lav/s ; 

5th. Of the fact of disobedience of the generals of the 
army or navy who disregard their instructions ; 

6th. Of the peculations and squandering of which the pre- 



2,^2 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

fects of the interior make themselves guilty in the exercise of 
their functions ; 

7th. Of the forfeitures and complaints of prejudice which 
can be incurred by a court of appeal or by a court of justice 
or by members of the Court of Cassation. 

8th. Of denunciations on account of arbitrary detentions 
and of violations of the liberty of the press. 

102. The seat of the high imperial court is in the Senate. 

103. It is presided over by the archchancellor of the Em- 
pire. 

If he is ill, absent, or lawfully prevented, it is presided over 
by another of the titular grand dignitaries of the Empire. 

104. The high imperial court is composed of the princes, 
the titular grand dignitaries and grand officers of the Em- 
pire, the high judge minister of justice, sixty senators, the 
six presidents of the sections of the Council of State, fourteen 
councillors of state, and twenty members of the Court of 
Cassation. 

The senators, the Councillors of State and members of 
the Court of Cassation are appointed by order of seniority. 

105. There is before the high imperial court a procureur- 
general, appointed for life by the Em^peror. 

He performs the duties of the public ministry, being as- 
sisted by three tribunes, appointed each year by the Corps- 
Legislatif out of a list of nine candidates presented by the 
Tribunate, and of three magistrates whom the Emperor ap- 
points, also each year, from among the officers of the courts 
of appeal and of criminal justice. 

106. There is before the high imperial court a recorder- 
in-chief appointed for life by the Emperor. 

107. The president of the high imperial court can nevec 
be challenged; he can abstain for legitimate reasons. 

108. The high imperial court can act only upon pros- 
ecutions of the public ministry in the offences committed by 
those whose rank makes them subject to the jurisdiction of 
the imperial court; if there is a compla'int, the public ministry 
becomes necessarily joint and prosecuting party, and proceeds 
as is required hereinafter. 

The public ministry is likewise the joint and prosecuting 
party in cases of forfeiture or of complaint of prejudice. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 



363 



109. The security magistrates and the jury directors are 
required to draw up and transmit, within the period of eight 
days, to the procureur-general before the high imperial court 
all the documents of the proceedings, when, in the offences 
whose reparation they seek, it happens either from the quality 
of the persons, or the title of the accusation, or from circum- 
stances, that the matter belongs to the jurisdiction of the high 
imperial court. 

Nevertheless, the security magistrates continue to collect 
the proofs and indications of the offence. 

no. The ministers or the Councillors of State charged 
with any part whatsoever of the public administration can 
be denounced by the Corps-Legislatif, if they have given or- 
ders contrary to the constitutions and the laws of the Empire. 

111. The Corps-Legislatif can likewise denounce: 

The captains-general of the colonies, the colonial prefects, 
the commandants of French establishm.ents outside of the con- 
tinent, the administrators-general, when they have betrayed 
their trusts or abused their authority; 

The generals of the army or navy who have disobeyed 
their instructions ; 

The prefects of the interior who have made themselves 
guilty of squandering or of peculation. 

112. The Corps-Legislatif denounces likewise the ministers 
or agents of authority when there has been, on the part of the 
Senate, declaration of strong presumptions of arbitrary deten- 
tion or of violation of the liberty of the press. 

113. The denunciation of the Corps-Legislatif cannot be 
decreed except upon the demand of the Tribunate, or upon 
the application of jfifty members of the Corps-Legislatif, who 
require a secret committee for the purpose of causing the se- 
lection, by way of ballot, of ten from among themselves to 
draw up the instrument of denunciation. 

114. In either case, the request or the demand shall be 
made in writing, and signed by the president and the secre- 
taries of the Tribunate, or by the ten members of the Corps- 
Legislatif. 

If it is directed against a minister or a Councillor of State 
charged with a part of the public administration, it is com- 
municated to him within the period of a month. 



364 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

115. The denounced minister or Councillor of State does 
not appear there to reply. 

The Emperor appoints three Councillors of State to repair 
to the Corps-Legislatif on the appointed day, and to give in- 
formation upon the facts of the denunciation. 

116. The Corps-Legislatif discusses in secret committee 
the facts included in the request or the demand, and it decides 
by means of the ballot. 

117. The document of denunciation shall be circumstan- 
tially stated and signed by the president and secretary of the 
Corps-Legislatif. 

It is addressed by a message to the archchancellor of the 
Empire, who transmits it to the procureur-general before the 
high imperial court. 

118. Betrayals of trust or abuses of power of the captains- 
general of the colonies, the colonial prefects, the com^mandants 
of the establishments outside of the continent, and the admin- 
istrators-general ; the facts of disobedience on the part of the 
generals of the army or the navy to the instructions which 
have been given them ; and the squanderings and extrav- 
agancies of the prefects are denounced by the ministers, each 
within his department, to the ofHcers charged with the public 
ministry. 

If the denunciation is made by the high judge minister of 
justice, he cannot assist nor take part in the judgments which 
follow upon his denunciation. 

119. In the cases prescribed by articles no, iii, 112, and 
118, the procureur-general notifies the archchancellor of the 
Empire, within three days, that there is need for the high 
imperial court to meet. 

The archchancellor, after having taken the orders of the 
Emperor, fixes within eight days the opening of the sittings. 

120. At the first sitting of the high imperial court it shall 
pass upon its jurisdiction. 

121. When there is a denunciation or a complaint, the 
procureur-general in concert with the tribunes and the three 
magistrate-officers of the bar, considers if there is need for 
prosecutions. 

The decision belongs to him ; one of the magistrates of 
the bar can be charged by the procureur-general with the 
direction of the prosecutions. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 365 

If the public ministry thinks that the complaint or the de- 
nunciation ought not to be admitted, it states the grounds 
for the conclusions, upon which the high imperial court pro- 
nounces, after having heard the magistrate charged with the 
report. 

122. When the conclusions are adopted, the high imperial 
court brings the affair to an end by a definitive judgment. 

When they are rejected, the public ministry is required 
to continue the prosecutions. 

123. In the second of the cases provided for by the pre- 
ceding article, and also when the public ministry considers 
that the complaint or denunciation ought to be admitted, it 
is required to prepare the document of accusation within 
eight days, and to communicate it to the commissioner and 
the alternate whom the archchancellor of the Empire appoints 
from among the judges of the Court of Cassation who are 
members of the high imperial court. The functions of this 
commissioner, and, in his default, of the alternate, consist 
of making the examination and the report. 

124. The reporter or his alternate submits the document 
of accusation to tv>?elve commissioners of the high imperial 
court, chosen by the archchancellor of the Empire, six from 
among the senators and six from among the other members 
of the high imperial court. The members chosen do not 
participate in the judgment of the high imperial court. 

125. If the twelve commissioners conclude that there is 
need for accusation, the commissioner-reporter prepares an 
ordinance in conformity therewith, issues the warrants of 
arrest, and proceeds to the examination. 

126. If the commissioners, on the contrary, think that 
there is no need for accusation, the matter is referred by the 
reporter to the high imperial court, which pronounces defi- 
nitively, 

127. The high imperial court cannot give judgment with 
less than sixty members. Ten of the whole number of mem- 
bers can be challenged, without assignment of cause, by the 
accused and ten by the public party. The decision is rendered 
by majority of the votes. 

128. The proceedings and the judgment take place in pub- 
lic. 



^66 CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 

129. The accused have counsel; if they do not present 
any, the archchancellor of the Empire officially gives them 
some one. 

130. The high imperial court can pronounce only the pen- 
alties provided by the penal code. 

It pronounces, if there is need, condemnation to damages 
and civil interests. 

131. When it acquits, it can put those who are acquitted 
under the surveillance or at the disposal of the high police 
of the State, for the time which it determines. 

132. The judgments rendered by the high imperial court 
are not subject to any appeal ; 

Those which pronounce condemnation to an afflictive or 
infamous penalty can be executed only when they have been 
signed by the Emperor. 

133. A special senatus-consultum contains the remainder 
of the arrangements relative to the organization and action 
of the high imperial court, 

TITLE XIV. OF THE JUDICIAL CLASS. 

134. The judgments of the courts of justice are entitled 
arret es. 

135. The presidents of the Court of Cassation, of the 
courts of appeal and of criminal justice, are appointed for life 
by the Emperor, and can be chosen from outside of the courts 
over which they shall preside. 

136. The tribunal of cassation assumes the denomination 
of Court of Cassation. 

The tribunals of appeal assume that of Court of Appeal;' 

The criminal tribunals, that of Court of Criminal Justice. 

The president of the Court of Cassation and those of the 
courts of appeal divided into sections assume the title of 
first president. 

The vice-presidents assume that of presidents. 

The commissioners of the government before the Court 
of Cassation, the courts of appeal and the courts of criminal 
justice take the title of imperial prociireurs-general. 

The commissioners of the government before the other 
tribunals assume the title of imperial procureurs. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR XII 2>^y 

TITLE XV. OF THE PROMULGATION. 

137. The Emperor causes the seaHng and promulgation of 
the organic senatus-consulta, 

The senatus-consulta, 

The actes of the Senate, 

The laws. 

The organic senatus-consulta, the senatus-consulta, and the 
actes of the Senate are promulgated at the latest on the tenth 
day following their emission. 

138. Two original copies are made of each of the doc- 
uments mentioned in the preceding article. 

Both are signed by the Emperor, attested by one of the 
titular grand dignitaries, each according to their rights and 
powers, countersigned by the Secretary of. State and the 
minister of justice, and sealed with the great seal of the 
state. 

139. One of these copies is deposited in the archives of 
the seal, and the other is tran^itted to the archives of 
the public authority from which the acte emanated. 

140. The promulgation is thus expressed : 

"N. (the prenomen of the Emperor), by the grace of God 
and the constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, 
to all present and to come, greeting. 

"The Senate, after having heard the orators of the Council 
of State, has decreed or resolved, and we order as follows : 

"(And if a law is in question) The Corps-Legislatif has 
rendered . ; . (the date) the following decree, in con- 
formity with the proposal made in the name of the Emperor, 
and after having heard the orators of the Council of State 
and of the sections of the Tribunate, the . 

"We command and require that the presents, invested with 
the seals of the State and inserted in the Bulletin of the 
Laws, be addressed to the courts, tribunals and administrative 
authorities, in order that they may inscribe them in their reg- 
isters, observe them and cause them to be observed; and the 
high judge minister of justice is charged to supervise the 
publication of them." 

141. The executory copies of the judgments shall be 
drawn up as follows : 

"N, (the prenomen of the Emperor), by the grace of God 



368 KINGDOM OF ITALY 

and the constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, 
to all present and to come, greeting : 

"The Court of ... or the tribunal of . . . 
(if it is a tribunal of first instance), has rendered the follow- 
ing judgment:"' 

(Here follows the arrete or the judgment.) 

"We command and require of all bailiffs upon this requi- 
sition to put the said judgment into execution; of our pro- 
cureurs-general and our procureurs before the tribunals, of 
the first instance to take it in hand; of all commanders and 
officers of the public forces to lend assistance when it shall 
be legally required of them. 

"In testimony whereof the present judgment has been 
signed by the president of the Court or the tribunal, and 
by the bailiff." 

TITLE XVI AND LAST. 

142. The following proposition shall be presented for the 
acceptance of the people,^ in the forms prescribed b}^ the 
arrete of 20 Floreal, Year X : 

"The people desire the inheritance of the imperial dignity 
in the direct, natural, legitimate and adoptive lineage of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural, and legitimate 
lineage of Joseph Bonaparte and of Louis Bonaparte, as is 
regulated by the organic senatus-consultum of this day." 



72. Documents upon the Kingdom of Italy. 

A deputation from the Italian Republic was present at the 
coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. These documents show how 
the occasion was utilized to transform the Italian Republic into 
the Kingdom of Italy and the manner in which the transaction 
was officially explained. The address to Napoleon and the second 
and more elaborate constitution mentioned in the document are in 
the Moniteur for March IS and 81, 1805. The general character 
of the constitution can be made out from what is given in these 
documents. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 293-295 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire Generale, IX, 431-432. 

A. Constitutional Statute. March 17, 1805. Moniteur^ 
March 19, 1805 (28 Ventose, Year XIII). 



KINGDOM OF ITALY 369 

Constitutional Statute. 

The Council of State, in view of the unanimous desire of 
the united council and the deputation of the 15th instant: 

In view of article 60 of the constitution, upon the consti- 
tutional initiative : 

Decrees : 

T. The emperor of the French, Napoleon I, is King of 
Italy. 

2. The crown of Italy is hereditary in his direct and legit- 
imate lineage, natural or adopted, from male to male and to 
the perpetual exclusion of women and their descendants, pro- 
vided, nevertheless, that his right of adoption cannot be ex- 
tended over any other person than a citizen of the French 
Empire or of the Kingdom of Italy, 

3. At the moment in which foreign armies shall have 
evacuated the State of Naples, the Ionian Islands, and the 
island of Malta, the Emperor Napoleon shall transmit the 
hereditary crown of Italy to one of his legitimate, natural 
or adopted children. 

4. Dating from that time, the crown of Italy shall no 
longer be united with the crown of France upon the same 
head, and the successors of Napoleon First in the Kingdom 
of Italy shall be obliged to reside constantly upon the territory 
of the Italian Republic. 

5. Within the course of the present year, the Emperor 
Napoleon, with the advice of the Council of State and the dep- 
utations of the electoral colleges, shall give to the Italian 
monarchy constitutions founded upon the same bases as those 
of the French Empire, and upon the same principles as the 
laws which he has already given to Italy. 

Signed, Napoleon. 
Melzi, Mareschalchi, Caprara, Paradisi, 
Fenaroli, Costabili, Luosi, Guiccardi. 

B. Proclamation of the Kingdom. March 19, 1805, Mon- 
iteur, March 23, 1805 (2 Germinal, Year XIII). 

The Council of State to the Peoples of the Kingdom of Italy. 
A new State, created in the midst of political commo- 
tions, could not arrive all at once at a degree of perfection, 
consistency and strength capable of assuring forever its ex- 



370 KINGDOM OF ITALY 

istence, its repose and its prosperity. The genius of the 
founder, however gigantic, however bold it might be, was 
bound to pause before insurmountable obstacles, and his wis- 
dom exhibited itself in not going beyond what circumstances 
would permit. Such was the lot of our Republic, when, for 
the first time, it appeared suddenly upon the political horizon 
of Europe. 

It took a great step, when in the comitia of Lyons, under 
the auspices and under the direction of its creator, it gave 
itself a new constitution and proclaimed for its head the man 
whose power and enlightenment could elevate it most rapidly 
to the degree of consideration and welfare to which its des- 
tinies would permit it to aspire. 

But this second organization could be only provisional, for 
it was then necessary to conform to the circumstances of the 
time and to wait for the result of the lessons of experience. 
Soon, indeed, experience proved that many things were lack- 
ing for the completion of the edifice ; that its foundations were 
not solid enough; and the conduct of affairs, however skill- 
ful, however unsullied might be the hands which guided them, 
was so slow and so embarrassed that one could not but per- 
ceive that the means which might be made use of were not 
sufiiciently effective. 

Finally, the great example given by France served to carry 
conviction to all minds, and its happy results apprised us that 
it was time to imitate it. 

From that time, therefore, the Council of State, charged 
especially by its institution with looking after the security of 
the Republic, has occupied itself with the means to effect a 
change which not only was rendered necessary by the events 
that were occurring about us, but was commanded by a still 
more pressing interest, that of our preservation. 

Already it had made known its thoughts and addressed its 
desires to the august head of the State; already it had sub- 
mitted to him the result of its meditations, when it was in- 
vited to repair to Paris, in company with a numerous dep- 
ntation of members of all the constituted bodies, in order to 
be present at the grand solemnity of the coronation of Napo- 
leon, Emperor of the French. 



KINGDOM OF ITALY 



3/1 



It was then that, having occasion to observe still more 
closely the splendid labors of that prodigious genius, admiring 
the state of glory and prosperity to which, as in an instant, 
he had again raised the nation of which he is the head, seeing 
confidence, good order and tranquility reigning everywhere, 
the Council of State turned its thoughts to the fatherland and, 
by a very natural feeling, coveted for that so dear fatherland 
the felicity of which it had come to contemplate the spectacle. 

Furthermore, tormented incessantly by the thought of 
the great dangers to be feared, the Council of State could not 
conceal the fact that these were bound to be always united in 
order to menace the State. It could not forget either the de- 
signs or interests of certain other powers, and not reflect 
with dismay upon the inequality of the forces, the danger 
of a precarious situsrtion, and the power of the charms of our 
climate. 

It therefore concluded that it was its duty to take up 
again the work which it had commenced, and uniting with 
the deputies, all alike distinguished no less by the places 
which they occupy than by their zeal and their enlightenment, 
and all with one voice have expressed the opinion which they 
have believed the most useful and which without any doubt 
was already formed by all hearts. 

This opinion, which was dictated by love and investigation 
and was made a duty by the good of the fatherland, has 
been favorably received. Napoleon is King of Italvw , 

It is our interest which has induced Napoleon to yield to 
our wishes ; and in fact he did not wish to assume the crown, 
and he will keep it only as long as our interest shall be the 
law for it to his wisdom and the affection which he bears 
us ; 

Finally, as he has wished to restrict the duration of his 
power, he will limit and regulate the extent and usage of it. 
He will give us a constitution, which will guarantee us our 
religion, the integrity of our territory, equality of rights, po- 
litical and civil liberty, the irrevocability of the sales of the 
national lands, the exclusive right to fill offices of the State ; 
which will reserve to the law alone the power to establish 
imposts, and which, in a word, will consecrate and consolidate 
all the grand principles upon which the welfare of peoples and 



^12 



BRITISH AND RUSSIAN TREATY 



their tranquility are founded. Napoleon has made promise 
of this. Who can doubt that he does not intend, that he 
will not seek to fulfill his promise? 

Such are the results of the constitutional statute joined to 
this proclamation. 



73. Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and Russia. 

April 11, 1805. F. Martens, Traites . . . Russia, II, 433- 
448. 

This treaty presents numerous points of interest. Among tliose 
calling for particular notice ^^re : (1) as the basis of the Third 
Coalition it shows the chara.cter of the arrangements by which 
the coalitions against France were built up; (2) in its stipulations 
regarding the general peace it foreshadows the meeting of the Con- 
gress of Vienna and some of its decisions. 

Refeeences. FyfEe, Modern Europe, 1, 278-279 (Popular ed., 
187-188): Fournier, Napoleon, 295-297; Rose, Napoleon, II, 7-8; 
Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 4-8 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Oen- 
erale, IX, 94-95. 

In the name of the most holy and indivisible Trinity, 
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and His Maj- 
esty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland, animated by the desire to secure for Europe the 
peace, independence and well being of which it is dej)rived 
through the unmeasured ambition of the French Government 
and the degree of influence out of all proportion which it 
tends to arrogate to itself, have resolved to employ all the 
means which are in their power, in order to obtain this sal- 
utary aim and to prevent the renewal of such distressing cir- 
cumstances, and in consequence they have appointed to arrange 
and agree to the measures which their magnanimous inten- 
tions demand. ... 

I. As the state of suffering in which Europe finds itself 
demands prompt remedies, their Majesties the Emperor of 
all the Russias and the King of the United, Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland have agreed to consult upon the means 
of causing its cessation, without waiting for the case of 
further encroachments on the part of the French Govern- 



BRITISH AND RUSSIAN TREATY 373 

ment. They have agreed, in consequence, to employ the most 
prompt and efficacious measures in order to form a general 
league of the States of Europe, and to bind them to accede to 
the present concert and to gather, for the purpose of fulfill- 
ing the aim, a force which, independent of that which His 
Britannic Majesty shall furnish, shall amount to 500,000 
effective men and to employ them with energy in order to 
bring the French Government by inclination or by force to 
assent to the re-establishment of the peace and the equilibrium 
of Europe. 

2, This league shall have for its aim the accomplishment 
of that which is proposed by the present concert, to wit: 

A. The evacuation of the country of Hanover and of the 
North of Germany. 

B. The establishment of the independence of the republics 
of Holland and Switzerland. 

C. The re-establishment of the King of Sardinia in Pied- 
mont, with an enlargement as considerable as circumstances 
will permit. 

D. The future security of the Kingdom of Naples and the 
entire evacuation of Italy, including therein the Island of 
Elba, by the French forces. 

E. The establishment of an order of things which guar- 
antees effectively the security and independence of the differ- 
ent states and presents a solid barrier against- future usurpa- 
tions. 

3. His Britannic Majesty, in order to co-operate effectively 
on his side for the happy purposes of the present concert, 
agrees to contribute to the common efforts by the employment 
of his land and sea forces, including his vessels suitable for 
the transport of troops, according to what shall be determined 
upon in this respect in the general plan of operations. He 
will aid, besides, the different Powers which shall accede 
hereto by subsidies, the amount of which shall correspond to 
the respective forces which it is decided to employ; and 
in order that these pecuniary aids may be apportioned in the 
manner most suitable for the general welfare, and to assist 
the Powers in the measure of the efforts which they shall 
make to contribute to the common success, it is agreed, that 
these subsidies shall be furnished (except by special ar- 



374 BRITISH AND RUSSIAN TREATY 

rangements) in the proportion of 1,250,000 pounds sterling 
per annum for each hundred thousand men of regular troops 
and thus in proportion for a greater or less number, payable 
under the conditions specified below. 

6. Their Majesties agree that in case a league is formed 
such as has been specified in article i, they will not make, 
peace with France except with the consent of all the Powers 
which shall be parties in the said league, and in case the' con- 
tinental Powers shall not recall their forces until the peace. 
His Britannic Majesty agrees to continue the payment of 
the subsidies for the entire duration of the war. 

Separate Articles. 

3. The High Contracting Parties are agreed that it enters 
into the aim of the present Concert to procure for Holland 
and for Switzerland, according to circumstances, suitable en- 
largements, such as the former Austrian Low Countries in 
whole or in part for the first and Geneva and Savoy for the 
second. 

They likewise agree that the arrangements which shall 
be made as the result of the war shall include in favor of Aus- 
tria an augmentation of territory, isuch as is stipulated for it 
by its convention with the Emperor of all the Russias, and 
in favor of other States which may co-operate in the aim 
of the present Concert acquisitions proportioned to their efforts 
for the common cause and compatible with the equihbrium of 
Europe. 

6. Mis Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and His 
Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland, having been induced to establish an energetic 
concert between themselves only with a view to assure 
to Europe a stable and solid peace founded upon the principles 
of justice, equity and international law, which are constantly 
guiding them, have recognized the necessity of agreeing even 
at present upon various principles which they shall bring for- 
ward according to a previous agreement as soon as the for- 
tunes of war shall furnish the necessity therefor. 



TREATY OF PRESSBURG 375 

These principles are, not to interfere in any manner with 
the national will in France relative to the form of the Gov- 
ernment, nor in the other countries in which the combined 
armies may come to act ; not to appropriate in advance of the 
peace any of the conquests which may be made by one or the 
other of the belligerent parties, and to take possession of the 
cities and territories which may be wrested from the common 
enemy only in the name of the Country or State to which they 
belong by recognized right and in every other case in the 
name of all the members of the league. 

Finally, to assemble at the end of the war a general con- 
gress, in order to discuss and settle upon the most precise 
foundations, what unfortunately has not been possible until 
now, the precepts of international law, and to assure the ob- 
servance of them by the establishment of a federative system 
based upon the situation of the different States of Europe. 



74. Treaty of Pressburg. 

December 26, 1805 (5 Nivose, Year XIV). De Clercq, Traites, 
II, 145-151. 

Austria became a member of the Third Coalition upon the 
terms outlined in No. 73. Tim and Austerlitz forced her to with- 
draw and to accept the terms granted by Napoleon in this treaty. 
It should be compared with the treaties of Campo Formio and 
Luneville (Nos. 55 land 62), and the altered position in which 
it left Austria should be carefully noted. 

Refekencbs. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 299-300, 307-308 (Pop- 
ular ed., 201-202, 206-207) ; Fournier, Napoleon, 318-324 ; Rose, 
Napoleon, II, 41-46 ; Sloano, Napoleon, II, 251-252 ; Lanfrey, ^a- 
polcon. III, 101-106 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Ilistoire Generale, IX, 
101-102. 

Maps. Putzger, Historiseher Schul-Atlas, 26 ; Schrader, Atlas 
de GeofjrapMe Historique, 48 ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas General, 41. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
and His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, 
equally prompted by the desire to put an end to the calamities 
of the war, have resolved to proceed without delay .to the 
conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace. . 



376 TREATY OF PRESSBURG 

1. There shall be, dating from this day, peace and amity 
between His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria 
and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
their heirs and successors, their respective States and subjects, 
forever. 

2. France shall continue to possess in complete ownership 
and sovereignty the Duchies, Principalities, Lordships and 
territories beyond the Alps, which were, prior to the present 
Treaty, united or incorporated with the French Empire,, or 
ruled by French Laws and Administrations. 

4. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria 
renounces, as well for himself as for his heirs and successors, 
the portion of the States of the Republic of Venice ceded by 
him in the Treaties of Campo Formio and Luneville,- which 
shall be united forever with the Kingdom of Italy. 

5. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria 
recognizes His Majesty the Emperor of the French as King 
of Italy. But it is agreed that, in conformity with the declar- 
ation made by His Majesty the Emperor of the French at 
the time when he took the Crown of Italy, as soon as the 
Powers named in that declaration shall have fulfilled the con- 
ditions which are there set forth, the Crowns of France and 
of Italy shall be separated forever, and they can no longer 
in any case be united upon the same head. His Majesty the 
Emperor of Germany and of Austria binds himself to recog- 
nize, at the time of the separation, the successor whom His 
Majesty the Emperor of the French shall give himself as 
King of Italy. 

6. The present Treaty of peace is declared common to 
their Most Serene Highnesses the Electors of Bavaria, Wur- 
temburg, and Baden, and to the Batavian Republic, allies 
in the present war of His Majesty the Emperor of the 
French, King of Italy. 

7. The Electors of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg having 
taken the title of King, without however ceasing to belong 
to the Germanic Confederation, His Majesty the Emperor of 
Germany and of Austria recognizes them in that capacity. 

8. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, 
both for himself, his heirs and successors, and for the Princes 



TREATY OF PRESSBURG 



Z77 



of his House, their respective heirs and successors, renounces 
the Principalities, Lordships, Domains and territories herein- 
after designated : 

Cedes and abandons to His Majesty the King of Bavaria, 
the Margravate of Burgau and its dependencies, the Princi- 
pality of Eichstadt, the portion of the territory of Passau 
belonging to His Royal Highness the Elector of Salzburg, 
and situated between Bohemia, Austria, the Danube and the 
Inn; the county of Tyrol, including the Principalities of 
Brixen and Trent; the Seven Lordships of Vorarlburg with 
their enclaves ; the County of Hohenems, the County of 
Konig^egg-Rothenfels, the Lordships of Tettnang and Argen, 
and the city and territory of Lindau. 

To His Majesty the King of Wurtemburg, the five so- 
called cities of the Danube, lo wit : Ehingen, Munder-kingen, 
Riedlingen, Mengen, and Sulgen, with their dependencies ; the 
Upper and Lower County of Hohenberg; the Landgravate of 
Nellenbourg and the Prefecture of Altorf, with their de- 
pendencies (the city of Constance excepted) ; the portion of 
Brisgau constituting an enclave within the Wurtemburg pos- 
sessions and situated to the east of a line drawn from 
Schlegelberg to Molbach, and the cities and territories of 
Willingen and Brentingen. 

To His Serene Highness the Elector of Baden, the Bris- 
gau (with the exception of the enclave and the separate por- 
tions above designated), the Ortenau and their dependencies, 
the city of Constance and the commandery of Meinau. 

The Principalities, Lordships, domains and territories above 
said shall be possessed respectively by their Majesties the 
Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg and by His Serene 
Highness the Elector of Baden, whether in suzerainty or in 
complete ownership and sovereigntj^, in the same manner, 
with the same titles, rights, and prerogatives as they were 
possessed by His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of 
Austria, or the Princes of His House, and not otherwise. 

10. The countries of Salzburg and Berechtesgaden belong- 
ing to His Royal and Excellent Highness the Archduke Fer- 
dinand shall be incorporated in the Empire of Austria; and 
His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria shall 



378 KINGDOM OF NAPLES 

possess them in complete ownership and sovereignty, but with 
the title of Duchy only. 

II. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
engages to obtain in favor of His Royal Highness the Arch- 
duke Ferdinand, Elector of Salzburg, the cession, by His 
Majesty the King of Bavaria, of the Principality of Wiirzburg, 
as it was given to his Majesty by the recez of the Dep- 
utation of the Germanic Empire of February 25, 1803. . 

15. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and of Austria, 
as well for himself, his heirs and successors, as for the Princes 
of his House, their heirs and successors, renounces without 
exception all rights, whether of Sovereignty or of Suzerainty, 
all claims whatsoever, present or contingent, upon all the 
States of their Majesties the Kings of Bavaria and Wurtem- 
burg and His Serene Highness the Elector of Baden, and 
generally upon all the States, domains and territories included 
in the circles of Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia, as well as 
every title taken from the said domains and territories ; and 
reciprocally all present or contingent claims of the said States 
at the expense of the House of Austria or of its Princes are 
and shall remain extinguished forever : . . . 

17. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon guarantees the 
integrity of the Empire of Austria in the condition wherein 
it shall be in consequence of the present Treaty of peace, like- 
wise the integrity of the possessions of the Princes of the 
House of Austria designated in the eleventh and twelfth ar- 
ticles. 

Separate Article. 
There shall be paid by His Majesty the Emperor of Ger- 
many and of Austria, for redemption of all the contributions 
imposed upon the different hereditary States occupied by 
the French army and not yet collected, a sum of forty million 
francs (metallic value) 

75. Documents upon Napoleon and the Kingdom of Naples. 

These documents show the manner and official justification of 



KINGDOM OF NAPLES 



Z7^ 



the transfer of the Neapolitan crown from its Bourbon sovereign 
to Joseph Bonaparte. This event was the first of a series by which 
the Grand Empire was created. Something of the conception of 
this empire can be learned from document B. 

Refekences. FyfEe, Modern Europe, I, 300-303 (Popular ed., 
202-204) ; Fournier!^ Napoleon, 327-329 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 56- 
59 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 255-256 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 106- 
108. 

A. Proclamation to the Army. December 30, 1805. Mon- 
iteur, February i, 1806. 

At my Imperial Camp at Schoenbriinn, 

6 Nivose, Year XIV (December 30, 1805). 
Soldiers, 

For ten years past I have done everything to save the King 
of Naples ; he has done everything to ruin himself. 

After the battles of Dego, Mondovi and Lodi he could 
oppose to me only a feeble resistance. I trusted the words of 
that prince and v^as generous towards him. 

When the second coalition was dissolved at Marengo, the 
King of Naples, who had first commenced that unjust war, 
abandoned at Luneville by his allies, remained alone and with- 
out defence. He implored me ; I pardoned him a second time. 

A few months ago you were at the gates of Naples. I 
had plenty of legitimate reasons to suspect the treason which 
was meditated and to avenge the outrages which had been 
committed. I was again generous. I recognized the neutral- 
ity of Naples ; I ordered you to evacuate that kingdom ; and 
for the third time the House of Naples was saved and 
strengthened. 

Shall we pardon a fourth time? shall we confide for a 
fourth time in a heart without faith, without honor, and with- 
out reason ? No ! no ! the dynasty of Naples has ceased to 
reign ; its existence is incompatible with the repose of Europe 
and the honor of my crown. 

Soldiers, march; caist into the waves, supposing that they 
await you, those debilitated battalions of the tyrant of the 
seas. Show to the world in what manner we punish per- 
jurers. Be not slow to understand that all Italy is subject 
to my laws or to those of mv allies ; that the most beautiful 
country of the world is liberated from the yoke of the most 



38o KINGDOM OF NAPLES 

perfidious men; that the sanctity of treaties is avenged, and 
that the manes of my brave soldiers butchered in the harbors 
of Sicily on their return from Egypt, after having escaped 
the perils of shipwreck, of the deserts, and of a hundred bat- 
tles, are at length appeased. 

Soldiers, my brother will march at 3^our head ; he knows 
my plans ; he is the depository of my authority ; he has my 
entire confidence ; encompass him with yours. 

Napoleon. 

B. Imperial Decree making Joseph Bonaparte King of 
Naples. March 30, 1806. Duvergier, Lois, XV., 323. 

Napoleon, by the grace of God and the Constitutions, Em- 
peror of the French, and King of Italy, to all those to whom 
these presents shall come, greeting. 

The interests of our people, the honor of our crown, and 
the tranquility of the continent of Europe, requiring that we 
should assure in a stable and definitive manner the fate of 
the peoples of Naples and of Sicil}^, who have fallen into our 
power by the right of conquest, and who moreover make up 
part of the Grand Empire, we have declared and do declare 
by these presents that we recognize as King of Naples and o'f 
Sicily our well beloved brother Joseph Napoleon, grand elec- 
tor of France. That crown shall be hereditary, by order of 
primogeniture, in his masculine, legitimate and natural lin- 
eage. Should his said lineage become extinct, which God 
forbid, we intend to call thereto our legitimate and natural 
male children, by order of prim^ogeniture, and in default of 
our legitimate and natural male children, those of our brother 
Louis and his masculine, legitimate and natural lineage, by 
order of primogeniture; reserving to ourselves, if our brother 
Joseph Napoleon should die during our lifetime, without leav- 
ing legitimate and natural male children, the right to designate 
for the succession to the said crown a prince of our house, or 
even to call thereto an adopted child, according as we shall 
judge expedient for the interest of our peoples and for the ad- 
vantage of the grand system which Divine Providence has 
destined us to establish. 

We institute in the said Kingdom of Naples and of Sicily 
six grand fiefs of the Empire, with the title of duchy and 
with the same advantages and prerogatives as those which 



TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND HOLLAND 



381 



have been instituted in the Venetian provinces united to our 
crown of Italy, in order that the said duchies may be grand 
fiefs of the Empire forever, appointments thereto, if there 
is occasion, falHng to us or our successors. All the details of 
the formation of the said fiefs are remitted to the care of our 
said brother Joseph Napoleon. 

We reserve from the said Kingdom of Naples and of 
Sicily the disposal of one million of income, in order to be 
distributed to the generals, officers and soldiers of our army, 
who have rendered the most services to the fatherland and 
the throne, and whom we shall designate for that purpose, 
under the express condition of the said generals, officers and 
soldiers not having power before the expiration of ten years 
to sell or alienate the said incomes, except with our author- 
isation. 

The King of Naples shall be forever a grand dignitary of 
the Empire, under the title of grand elector; reserving to 
ourselves, however, when we shah deem suitable, to create 
the dignity of prince vice-grand-elector. 

We intend that the crown of Naples and of Sicily, which 
we place upon the head of our brother Joseph Napoleon and 
his descendants, shall not affect injuriously in any manner 
their rights of succession to the throne of France. But it 
is likewise within our wish that the crowns of France, Italy, 
and Naples and Sicily, may never be united upon the same 
head. 



76. Treaty between France and Holland. 

May 24, 1806. De Clercq, Traitcs, II, 165-167. 

The event shown in this document belongs to the series by 
which the republics dependent upon France were transformed into 
monarchies and made, in effect if not in name, parts of the Grand 
Empire. The reasons given for the change and the relationship 
with France should be particularly noticed. 

References. Fournior, Napoleon, 331-334 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
II, 256 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 114-116 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire Generale, IX, 488-493. 

His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon, Emperor of 
the French, , King of Italy, and the Assembly of their High 



382 TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND HOLLAND 

Mightinesses representing the Batavian Republic, presided 
over by His Excellency the Grand Pensionary, accompanied 
by the Council of State and the Ministers and Secretaries of 
State, considering: 

I St. That in view of the general tendency of opinion 
and the actual organization of Europe, a Government vv^ithout 
stability and certain duration cannot fulfill the aim of its in- 
stitution ; 

2d. That the periodical renewal of the Head of the State 
will always be in Holland a source of dissensions, and abroad, 
a constant subject of agitation and discord between the Pow- 
ers friendly or hostile to Holland ; 

3d. That an hereditary government alone can guarantee 
the tranquil possession of everything which is dear to the peo- 
ple of Holland, the free exercise of their religion, the' preser- 
vation of their laws, their political independence and their 
civil liberty; 

4th. That the first of their interests is to assure themselves 
of a powerful protection, under the shelter of which they can 
freely exercise their industry and maintain themselves in the 
possession of their territory, their commerce and their colo- 
nies ; 

5th. That France is essentially interested in the welfare 
of the people of Holland, the prosperity of the State and the 
stability of their institutions, as well in consideration of the 
northern frontier of the Empire, open and stripped of fortified 
places, as under the aspect of the principles and interests of 
general policy; 

1. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
both for himself and for his heirs and successors forever, 
guarantees to Holland the maintenance of its constitutional 
rights, its independence, the integrity of its possessions in 
the two worlds, its political, civil and religious liberty, as it 
is consecrated by the actually established laws, and the aboli- 
tion of every privilege in the matter of taxation. 

2. Upon the formal request made by their High Might- 
inesses representing the Batavian Republic, that Prince Louis 
Napoleon should be appointed and crowned hereditary and 
constitutional King of Holland, His Majesty defers to this 



TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND HOLLAND 383 

opinion and authorises Prince Louis Napoleon to accept the 
Crown of Holland, to be possessed by him and his natural, 
legitimate and masculine descendants, by order of primogen- 
iture, to the perpetual exclusion of women and their descend- 
ants. 

In consequence of this authorisation. Prince Louis Napoleon 
shall possess that crown under the title of King, and with all 
the power and all the authority which shall be determined by 
the constitutional laws which the Emperor Napoleon has guar- 
anteed in the preceding article. 

Nevertheless, it is declared that the Crowns of France and 
of Holland can never be united upon the same head. 

4. In case of a minority, the regency belongs of right to 
the queen; and in her default, the Emperor of the French, in 
his capacity as perpetual Head of the Imperial Family, ap- 
points the Regent of the Kingdom; he chooses from among 
the Princes of the Royal Family, and, in their default, from 
among the nationals. The minority of the Kings ends at the 
age of eighteen completed years. 

6. The King of Holland shall be in perpetuity a Grand 
Dignitary of the Empire, under the title of Grand Constable. 

7. The Members of the reigning House of Holland shall 
remain personally subject to the provisions of the constitu- 
tional statute of March 30th last, forming the law of the Im- 
perial Family of France. 

8. The posts and employments of State, other than those 
appertaining to the personal service of the Palace of the King, 
shall be conferred only upon nationals. 

9. The arms of the King shall be the ancient arms of Hol- 
land, quartered with the Imperial Eagle of France and sur- 
mounted by the Royal Crown. 

10. There shall be immediately concluded between the 
Contracting Powers a treaty of commerce, in virtue of which 
the subjects of Holland shall be treated at all times in the 
harbors and upon the territory of the French Empire as the 
most specially favored nation. 

Paris, this May 24, 1806. 



384 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 

77. Documents upon the Continental System. 

Tlie first five of these documents exhibit the steps whereby the 
neutral trade of the world was destroyed during the great com- 
mercial war between France and England. Document F shows a 
subsequent adjustment of the English system. Document G illus- 
trates the methods employed by Napoleon in the application of his 
system. The idea of conquering England by destroying her com- 
merce was an old French conception which the Directory had be- 
gun to apply. Napoleon resumed the policy at the renewal of the 
Wiar in 1803 and his measures led to document A. 

References. The best consecutive account of the whole sys- 
tem is in Mahan, Sea Poicer . . . French Revolution, II, 
265-357. Henry Adams, History of the United States, IV, Ch. 
IV, should be read with reference to documents C and D ; val- 
uable comment upon the other documents may also be obtained 
through the index. See also Fournier, Nanoleon, 503-507 ; Rose, 
Napoleon, II, 95-99, 195-206, 215-216 : Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 179. 
183, 357-358, IV, 269-278. 

A. British Note to the Neutral Powers. May 16, 1806. 
American State Papers^ Foreign Relations, III, 267. 

Downing Street, May 16, 1806. 
The undersigned, His Majesty's principal Secretary of 
State for Foreign Affairs, has received His Majesty's com- 
mands to acquaint Mr. Monroe, that the King, taking into 
consideration the new and extraordinary means resorted to by 
the enemy for the purpose of distressing the commerce of his 
subjects, has thought fit to direct that the necessary measures 
should be taken for the blockade of the coast, rivers and ports, 
from the river Elbe to the port of Brest, both inclusive; and 
the said coast, rivers and ports are and must be considered as 
blockaded; but that His Majesty is pleased to declare that such 
blockade shall not extend to prevent neutral ships and vessels 
laden with goods not being the property of His Majesty's ene- 
mies, and not being contraband of war, from approaching the 
said coast, and entering into and sailing from the said rivers 
and ports (save and except the coast, rivers and ports from 
Ostend to the river Seine, already in a state of strict and 
rigorous blockade, and which are to be considered as so con- 
tinued), provided the said ships and vessels so approaching 
and entering (except as aforesaid), shall not have been laden 
at any port belonging to or in the possession of any of His 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 385 

iMiajesty's enemies ; and that the said ships and vessels so 
sailing from said rivers and ports (except as aforesaid) shall 
not be destined to any port belonging to or in possession 
of any of His Majesty's enemies, nor have previously broken 
the blockade. 

Mr. Monroe is therefore requested to apprise the Ameri- 
can consuls and merchants residing in England, that the coast, 
rivers and ports above mentioned, must be considered as be- 
ing in a state of blockade, and that from this time all the 
measures authorised by the hw of nations and the respective 
treaties between His Majesty and the different neutral powers, 
will be adopted and executed with respect to vessels attempting 
to violate the said blockade after this notice 

The undersigned requests Mr. Monroe, etc. 

C. J. Fox. 

B. The Berlin Decree. November 21, 1806. Corres- 
.dondance de Napoleon I, XIU, 551-557. Translation, James 
Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Translations and 
Reprints. 

From our Imperial Camp at Berlin, November 21, 1806. 
Napoleon, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, in 
-consideration of the fact : 

1. That England does not recognize the system of inter- 
national law universally observed by all civilized nations. 

2. That she regards as an enemy every individual belong- 
ing to the enemy's state, and consequently makes prisoners of 
war not only of the crews of armed ships of war but of the 
■crews of ships of commerce and merchantmen, and even of 
commercial agents and of merchants traveling on business. 

3. That she extends to the vessels and commercial wares 
and to the property of individuals the right of conquest, which 
is applicable only to the possessions of the belligerent power. 

4. That she extends to unfortified towns and commercial 
ports, to harbors and the mouths of rivers, the right of 
blockade, which, in accordance with reason and the customs 
•of all civilized nations, is applicable only to strong places. 
That she declares places in a state of blockade before which 
she has not even a single ship of war, although a place may 
not be blockaded except it be so completely guarded that no 

13 



386 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



attempt to approach it can be made without imminent danger. 
That she has declared districts in a state of blockade which 
all her united forces would be unable to blockade, such as entire 
coasts and the whole of an empire. 

5. That this monstrous abuse of the right of blockade 
has no other aim than to prevent communication among the 
nations and to raise the commerce and the industry of England 
upon the ruins of that of the continent. 

6. That, since this is the obvious aim of England, whoever 
deals on the continent in English goods, thereby favors and 
renders himself an accomplice of her designs. 

7. That this policy of England, worthy of the earliest 
stages of barbarism, has profited that power to the detriment 
of every other nation. 

8. That it is a natural right to oppose such arms against 
an enemy as he makes use of, and to fight in the same way 
that he fights. Since England has disregarded all ideas of 
justice and every high sentiment, due to the civilization among 
mankind, we have resolved to apply to her the usages which 
she has ratified in her maritime legislation. 

The provisions of the present decree shall continue to be 
looked upon as embodying the fundamental principles of the 
Empire until England shall recognize that the law of war is 
one and the same on land and sea, and that the rights of war 
cannot be extended so as to include private property of any' 
kind or the persons of individuals unconnected with the pro- 
fession of arms, and that the right of blockade should be 
restricted to fortified places actually invested by sufficient 
forces. 

We have consequently decreed and do decree that which 
follows : 

1. The British Isles are declared to be in a state of block- 
ade. 

2. All commerce and all correspondence with the British 
Isles are forbidden. Consequently letters or packages directed 
to England or to an Englishman or written in the English 
language shall not pass through the mails and shall be seized. 

3. Every individual who is an English subject, of what- 
ever state or condition he may be, who shall be discovered 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 387 

in any country occupied by our troops or by those of our allies, 
shall be made a prisoner of war. 

4. All warehouses, merchandise -^or property of whatever 
kind belonging to a subject of England shall be regarded 
as a lawful prize. 

5. Trade in English goods is prohibited, and all goods 
belonging to England or coming from her factories or her 
colonies are declared a lawful prize. 

6. Half of the product resulting from the confiscation 
of the goods and possessions declared a lawful prize by the 
preceding articles shall be applied to indemnify the merchants 
for the losses they have experienced by the capture of mer- 
chant vessels taken by English cruisers. 

7. No vessel coming directly from England or from the 
English colonies or which shall have visited these since the 
publication of the present decree shall be received in any port. 

8. Any vessel contravening the above provision by a 
false declaration shall be seized, and the vessel and cargo 
shall be confiscated as if it were English property. 

9. Our Court of Prizes at Paris shall pronounce final 
judgment in all cases arising in our Empire or in the 
countries occupied by the French Army relating to the exe- 
cution of the present decree. Our Court of Prizes at Milan 
shall pronounce final judgment in the said cases which may 
arise within our Kingdom of Italy. 

10. The present decree shall be oommunicated by 
our minister of foreign affairs to the King of Spain, of Naples, 
of Holland and of Etruria, and to our other allies whose sub- 
jects, like ours, are the victims of the unjust and barbarous 
maritime legislation of England. 

11. Our ministers of foreign affairs, of war, of the 
navy, of finance and of the police and our Directors-General 
of the port are charged with the execution of the present 
decree so far as it effects them. 

Signed, Napoleon. 

C. British Order in Council, January 10, 1807. American- 
State Papers, Foreign Relations, III, 5- 

Note communicated by Lord Howick to Mr. Monroe, dated 



288 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 

Downing Street, January lo, 1807. 

The undersigned, His Majesty's principal Secretary of 
State of Foreign Affairs, has received His Majesty's com- 
mands to acquaint Mr. Monroe that the French Government 
having issued certain orders, which, in violation of the usages 
01 war, purport to prohibit the commerce of all neutral na- 
tions with His Majesty's dominions, and also to prevent such 
nations from trading with any other country in any articles, 
the growth, produce, or manufacture of His Majesty's domin- 
ions. And the said Government having also taken upon 
itself to declare all His Majesty's dominions to be in a 
state of blockade, at a time when the fleets of France and 
her allies are themselves confined within their own ports 
by the superior valor and discipline of the British navy. 

Such attempts, on the part of the enemy, giving to His Maj- 
esty an unquestionable right of retaliation, and warranting 
His Majesty in enforcing the same prohibition of all com- 
merce with France, which that Power vainly hopes to effect 
against the commerce of His Majesty's subjects, a prohibition 
which the superiority of His Majesty's naval forces might en- 
able him to support, by actually investing the ports and coasts 
of the enemy with numerous squadrons and cruisers, so as to 
make the entrance or approach thereto manifestly dangerous. 

His Majesty, though unwilling to follow the example of 
his enemies by proceeding to an extremity so distressing to 
all nations not engaged in the war, and carrying on their ac- 
customed trade, yet feels himself bound, by a due regard to the 
just defence of the rights and interests of his people, not to 
suffer such measures to be taken by the enemy, without tak- 
ing some steps, on his part, to restrain this violence, and to 
retort upon them the evils of their own injustice. Mr. Monroe 
is, therefore, requested to apprise the American consuls and 
merchants residing in England, that His Majesty has, there- 
fore, judged it expedient to order that no vessel shall be per- 
mitted to trade from one port to another, both which ports 
shall belong to, or be in the possession of, France or her allies, 
or shall be so far under their control as that British vessels 
may not freely trade thereat; and that the commanders of 
His Majesty's ships of war and privateers have been instructed 
to warn everv neutral vessel coming from any such port, and 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



389 



destined to another port, to discontinue her voyage, and not 
to proceed to any such port ; and every vessel after being so 
warned, or any vessel coming from any such port, after a 
reasonable time shall have been afforded for receiving infor- 
mation of this His Majesty's order, which shall be found 
proceeding to another such port, shall be captured and brought 
in, and, together with her cargo, shall be condemned as law- 
ful prize. And that, from this time, all the measures author- 
ised by the law of nations, and the respective treaties between 
His Majesty and the different neutral Powers, will be adopted 
and executed with respect to vessels attempting to violate the 
said order after this notice. Howick. 

D. British Order in Council. November 11, 1807. Ameri- 
can State Papers^ Foreign Relations, HI, 269-270. 

At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the nth of November, 
1807: Present, the King's Most Excellent 

Majesty in Council. » 

Whereas certain orders establishing an unprecedented sys- 
tem of warfare against this kingdom, and aimed especially at 
the destruction of its commerce and resources, were some time 
since issued by the Government of France, by which "the Brit- 
ish islands were declared to be in a state of blockade," thereby 
subjecting to capture and condemnation all vessels, with their 
cargoes, which should continue to trade with His Majesty's 
dominions : 

And, whereas, by the same order, "all trading in English 
merchandise is prohibited, and every article of merchandise 
belonging to England, or coming from her colonies, or of her 
manufacture, is declared lawful prize :" 

And, whereas, the nations in alliance with France, and 
under her control, were required to give, and have given, and 
do give, effect to such orders : 

And, whereas. His Majesty's order of the 7th of January 
last has not answered the desired purpose, either of compelling 
the enemy to recall those orders, or of inducing neutral nations 
to interpose, with effect, to obtain their revocation, but on the 
contrary, the same have been recently enforced with increased 
rigor : 

And, whereas. His Majesty, under these circumstances, finds 



390 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



himself compelled to take further measures tor asserting and 
vindicating his just rights, and for supporting that maritime 
power which the exertions and valor of his people have, under 
the blessings of Providence, enabled him to establish and 
maintain; and the maintenance of which is not more essential 
to the safety and prosperity of His Majesty's dominions, than 
it is to the protection oi such states as still retain their inde- 
pendence, and to the general intercourse and happiness of 
mankind : 

His Majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice of 
his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all 
the ports and places of France and her allies, or of any other 
country at war with His Majesty, and all other ports or places 
in Europe, from which, although not at war with His Majesty, 
the British flag is excluded, and all ports or places in the col- 
onies belonging to His Majesty's enemies, shall, from hence- 
forth, be subject to the same restrictions in point of trade 
and navigation, with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned, 
as if the same were actually blockaded by His Majesty's naval 
forces, in the most strict and rigorous manner : And it is hereby 
further ordered and declared, that all trade in articles which 
are of the produce or manufacture of the said countries or 
colonies shall be deemed and considered to be unlawful; and 
that every vessel trading from or to the said co«ntries or 
colonies, together with all goods and merchandise on board 
and all articles of the produce or manufacture of the said 
countries or colonies, shall be captured and condemned as 
a prize to the captors. 

But, although His Majesty would be fully justified by the 
circumstances and considerations above recited, in establishing 
such system of restrictions with respect to all the countries and 
colonies of his enemies, without exception or qualification, yet 
His Majesty being, nevertheless, desirous not to subject neu- 
trals to any greater inconvenience than is absolutely insepar- 
able from the carrying into effect His Majesty's just determin- 
ation to counteract the designs of his enemies, and to retort 
upon his enemies themselves the consequences of their own 
violence and injustice; and being yet willing to hope that it 
may be possible (consistently with that object) still to allow 
to neutrals the opportunity of furnishing themselves with col- 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 391 

onial produce for their own consumption and supply, and 
even to leave open, for the present, such trade with His Maj- 
esty's enemies as shall be carried on directly with the ports 
of His Majesty's dominions, or of his allies, in the manner 
hereinafter mentioned : 

His Majesty is, therefore, pleased further to order and it is 
hereby ordered, that nothing herein contained shall extend to 
subject to capture or condemnation any vessel, or the cargo 
of any vessel, belonging to any country not declared by this 
order to be subjected to the restrictions incident to a state of 
blockade, which shall have cleared out with such cargo from 
some port or place of the country to which she belongs, either 
in Europe or America, or from some free port ni His Majesty's 
colonies, under circumstances in which ,such trade, from such 
free ports, is permitted, direct to some port or place in the 
colonies of His Majesty's enemies, or from those colonies direct 
to the country to which such vessel belongs, or to some free 
port in His Majesty's colonies, in such cases, and with such 
articles, as it may be lawful to import into such free port; nor 
to any vessel, or the cargo of any vessel, belonging to any 
country not at war with His Majesty, which shall have cleared 
out under such regulations as His Majesty may think fit to 
prescribe, and shall be proceeding direct from some port or 
place in this kingdom, or from Gibraltar, or Malta, or from any 
port belonging to His Majesty's allies, to the port specified in 
her clearance ; nor to any vessel, or the cargo of any vessel, 
belonging to any country not at war with His Majesty, which 
shall be coming from any port or place in Europe which is de- 
clared by this order to be subject to the restrictions incident 
to a state of blockade, destined to some port or place in Europe 
belonging to His Majesty, and which shall be on her voyage 
direct thereto ; but these exceptions are not to be understood 
as exempting from capture or confiscation any vessel or goods 
which shall be liable thereto in respect to having entered or 
departed from any port or place actually blockaded by His 
Majesty's squadrons or ships of war, or for being enemy's 
property, or for any other cause than the contravention of his 
present .order. 

And the commanders of His Majesty's ships of war and 
privateers, and other vessels acting under His Majesty's com- 



392 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 

mission, shall be, and are hereby, instructed to warn every 
vessel which shall have commenced her voyage prior to any 
notice of this order, and shall be destined to any port of 
France or of her allies or of any other country at war with 
His Majesty or any port or place from which the British flag, 
as aforesaid, is excluded, or to any colony belonging to His 
Majesty's enemies, and which shall not have cleared out as is 
hereinbefore allowed, to discontinue her voyage, and to pro- 
ceed to some port or place in this kingdom, or to Gibraltar, or 
Malta ; and any vessel which, after having been so warned or 
after a reasonable time shall have been afforded for the arrival 
of information of this His Majesty's order at any port or place 
from which she sailed, or which, after having notice of this 
order, shall be found in the prosecution of any voyage contrary 
to the restrictions contained in this order, shall be captured, 
and, together with her cargo, condemned as lawful prize to 
the captors. 

And, whereas, countries not engaged in the war have acqui- 
esced in these orders of France, prohibiting all trade in any 
articles the produce or manufacture of His Majesty's domin- 
ions; and the merchants of those countries have given counten- 
ance and effect to those prohibitions by accepting from persons, 
styling themselves commercial agents of the enemy, resident 
at neutral ports, certain documents, termed "certificates of 
origin," being certificates obtained at the ports of shipment, 
declaring that the articles of the cargo are not of the produce 
or manufacture of His Majesty's dominions, or to that effect. 

And, whereas, this expedient has been directed by France, 
and submitted to by such merchants, as part of the new sys- 
tem of warfare directed against the trade of this kingdom, and 
as the most effectual instrument of accomplishing the same, 
and it is therefore essentially necessary to resist it. 

His Majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice 
of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that if 
any vessel, after reasonable time shall have been afforded for 
receiving notice of this His Majesty's order, at the port or 
place from which such vessel shall have cleared out, shall 
be found carrying any such certificate or document as afore- 
said, or any document referring to or authenticating the same, 
such vessel shall be adjudged lawful prize to the captor, to- 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



393 



gether with the goods laden therein, belonging to the person 
or persons by whom, or on whose behalf, any such document 
was put on board. 

And the right honourable the Lords Commissioners of His 
Majesty's Treasury, His Majesty's principal Secretaries of 
State, the Lords Commissioners of the Admirality, and the 
Judges of the High Court of Admirality, and Courts of Vice- 
Admiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein as to 
them shall respectively appertain. W. Fawkener. 

E. The Milan Decree. December 17, 1807. Correspon- 
dance de Napoleon, I, XVI, 192-193. Translation, James 
Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Translations 
and Reprints. 

At Our Royal Palace at Milan, December 17, 1807. 

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector 
of the Confederation of the Rhine. In view of the measures 
adopted by the British government on the nth of November 
last by which vessels belonging to powers which are neutral 
or are friendly and even allied with England are rendered 
liable to be searched by British cruisers, detained at certain 
stations in England, and subject to an arbitrary tax of a cer- 
tain per cent, upon their cargo to be regulated by English 
legislation. 

Considering that by these acts the English government has 
denationalized the vessels of all the nations of Europe, and 
that no government may compromise in any degree its inde- 
pendence or its rights — all the rulers of Europe being jointly 
responsible for the sovereignty and independence of their flags, 
— ^and that, if through unpardonable weakness which would be 
regarded by posterity as an indelible stain, such tyranny should 
be admitted and become consecrated by custom, the English 
would take steps to give it the force of law, as they have 
already taken advantage of the toleration of the governments 
to establish the infamous principle that the flag does not cover 
the goods and to give the right of blockade an arbitrary ex- 
tension which threatens the sovereignty of every state : We have 
decreed and do decree as follows : 

I, Every vessel of whatever nationality which shall sub- 
mit to be searched by an English vessel or shall consent to a 



394 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



voyage to England, or shall pay any tax whatever to the Eng- 
lish government is ipso facto declared denationalized, loses 
the protection afforded by its flag and becomes English 
property. 

2. Should such vessels which are thus denationalized 
through the arbitrary measures of the English government 
enter our ports or those of our alHes or fall into the hands 
of our ships of war or of our privateers they shall be regarded 
as good and lawful prizes. 

3. The British Isles are proclaimed to be in a state of 
blockade both by land and by sea. Every vessel of whatever 
nation or whatever may be its cargo, that sails from the ports 
of England or from those of the English colonies or of coun- 
tries occupied by English troops, or is bound for England or 
for any of the English colonies or any country occupied by 
English troops, becomes, by violating the present decree, a 
lawful prize, and may be captured by our ships of war and 
adjudged to the captor. 

4. These measures, which are only a Just retaliation 
against the barbarous system adopted by the English govern- 
m.ent, which models its legislation upon that of Algiers, shall 
cease to have any effect in the case of those nations which shall 
force the English to respect their flags. They shall continue 
in force so long as that government shall refuse ta accept the 
principles of international law which regulate the relations of 
civilized states in a state of war. The provisions of the pres- 
ent decree shall be ipso facto abrogated and void so soon as 
the English government shall abide again by the principles 
of the law of nations, which are at the same time those 
of justice and honor. 

5. All our ministers are charged with the execution of the 
present decree, which shall be printed in the Bulletin des lois. 

F. British Order in Council, April 26, 1809. American 
State Papers, Foreign Relations, III, 241. 

At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the 26th of April, 
1809; Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in council. 

Whereas, His Majesty, by his order in council of the nth 
of November, 1807, was pleased, for the reasons assigned 
therein, to order that "all the ports and places of France and 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



395 



her allies, or of any other country at war with His Majesty, 
and all other ports or places in Europe, from which, although 
not at war with His Majesty, the British flag is excluded, and 
all ports or places in the colonies belonging to His Majesty's 
enemies, should from henceforth be subject to the same re- 
strictions in point of trade or navigation as if the same were 
actually blockaded in the most strict and vigorous manner;" 
and also to prohibit "all trade in articles which are the pro- 
duce or manufacture of the said countries or colonies;" and 
whereas. His Majesty, having been nevertheless desirous not to 
subject those countries which were in alliance or amity with 
His Majesty to any greater inconvenience than was absolutely 
inseparable from carrying into effect His Majesty's just de- 
termination to counteract the designs of his enemies, did 
make certain exceptions and modifications expressed in the 
said order of the nth of November, and in certain subsequent 
orders of the 2Sth of November, declaratory of the aforesaid 
order of the nth of November and of the iSth of December, 
1807, and of the 30th of March, 1808; 

And whereas, in consequence of diverse events which have 
taken place since the date of the first-mentioned order, affecting 
the relations between Great Britain and the territories of other 
Powers, it is expedient that sundry parts and provisions of the 
said orders should be ordered or revoked; 

His Majesty is therefore pleased, by and with the advice 
of his privy council, to revoke and annul the said several or- 
ders, except as hereinafter expressed ; and so much of the 
said orders, except as aforesaid, is hereby revoked accordingly. 
And His Majesty is pleased, by and with the advice of his 
privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all 
the ports and places as far north ais the river Ems, in- 
clusively, under the government styling itself the Kingdom of 
Holland, and all ports and places under the Government of 
France, together with the colonies, plantations, and settle- 
ments in the possession of those Governments, respectively, 
and all ports and places in the northern parts of Italy, to^ be 
reckoned from the ports of Orbitello and Pesaro, inclusively, 
shall continue, and be subject to the same restrictions, in 
point of trade and navigation, without any exception, as 
if the same were actually blockaded by His Majesty's naval 



396 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 

forces in the most strict and rigorous manner; and that 
every vessel trading from and to the isaid countries or col- 
onies, plantations or settlements, together w^ith all goods 
and merchandise on board, shall be condemned as prize to the 
captors. 

And His Majesty is further pleased to order, and it is 
hereby ordered, that this order shall have effect from the day 
of the date thereof with respect to any ship, together with its 
cargo, which may be captured subsequent to such day, on any 
voyage which is and shall be rendered legal by this order, al- 
though such voyage, at the time of the commencement of the 
same, was unlawful, and prohibited under the said former 
orders ; and such ships, upon being brought in, shall be re- 
leased accordingly ; and with respect to all ships, together with 
their cargoes, which may be captured in any voyage which 
was permitted under the exceptions of the orders above men- 
tioned, but which is not permitted according to the provisions 
of this order. His Majesty is pleased to order, and it is here- 
by ordered that such ships and their cargoes shall not be 
liable to condemnation, unless they shall have received, ac- 
tual notice of the present order, as were allowed for construc- 
tive notice in the orders of the 25th of November, 1807, and 
the i8th of May, 1808, at the several places and latitudes 
therein specified. ^ 

And the right honorable the Lords Comm.issioners of His 
Majesty's Treasury, His Majesty's principal Secretary of State, 
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralt}^, and the Judge of 
the High Court of Admiralty, and Judges of the Courts of 
Vice-admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein as 
to them may respectively appertain. 

Stephen Cottrell. 

G. The Rambouillet Decree. March 23, 1810, Duvergier, 
Lois, XVH, 59- 

Napoleon . . . considering that the Government of 
the United States, by an act dated March i, 1809, which forbids 
the entrance of the ports, harbors and rivers of the said States 
to all French vessels, orders: 

1st. That, dating from the 20th of May following, the ves- 
sels under the French flag which shall arrive in the United 



CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE 



397 



States shall be seized and confiscated, as well as their car- 
goes ; 

2d. That, after the same date, no merchandise and pro- 
ductions coming from the soil or manufactures of France or 
of its colonies can be imported into the said United States, 
from any port or foreign place whatsoever, under penalty of 
seizure, confiscation and fine of three times the value of the 
merchandise ; 

3d. That American vessels cannot repair to any port of 
France, its colonies or dependencies ; 

We have decreed and do decree as follows : 

1. That all vessels navigating under the flag of the United 
States, or possessed in whole or in part by any citizen or sub- 
ject of that Power, which, dating from May 20, 1809, may have 
entered or shall enter into the ports of our Empire, our colon- 
ies or the countries occupied by our armies, shall be seized, 
and the products of the sales shall be deposited in the surplu? 
fund. 

Vessels which may be charged with despatches or commis- 
sions of Government of the said States and which have not 
cargo or merchandise on board are excepted from this pro- 
vision. 

2. Our grand judge, minister of justice, and our minister 
of finance, are charged with the execution of the present de- 
cree. 



78. Documents upon the Confederation of the Rhine. 

The destruction of the Holy Roman Empire, begun in the trea- 
ties of Basel and Campo Formio (Nos. 48 and 55), was finally 
oompletcd by the organization of the Confederation of the Rhine. 
The most important feature of document A is the relationship 
Avhich it creates between Prance and each of the confederated 
states. By subsequent acts of accession nearly all the German 
states, except Austria and Prussia, became members. In the 
other documents the important features are the explanations for 
tlae action that is taken. 

Refeeence.s. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 303-306 (Popular ed., 
204-260) ; Fournier, Napoleon, 335-340 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 
69-72 ; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 259-262 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, His- 
toire Generale, IX, 503-505. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas, 48-49 ; Lane-Poole, 
IT.istorical Atlas of Modern Europe, 12. 



398 CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE 

A. Treaty for Establishing the Confederation. July 12, 
1806. De Clercq, Traites, II, 171-179. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
of the one part, and of the other part their Majesties the 
Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg and Their Serene High 
nesses the Electors, the Archchancellor of Baden, the Duke of 
Berg and of Cleves, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, 
the Princes of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau- Weilburg, the 
Princes of Hohenzollern-Heckingen and Hohenzollern-Sig- 
m.aringen, the Princes of Salm-Salm and Salm-Kirburg, the 
Prince of Isneburg-Birstein, the Duke oi Aremberg and the 
Prince of Lichenstein, and the Count of Leyen, wishing, by 
suitable stipulations, to assure the internal peace of the south 
of Germany, for which experience for a long time past and 
quite recently still more has shown that the Germanic Con- 
stitution can no longer offer any sort of guarantee. . 

I. The States of . . . [names of the parties of the sec- 
ond part] shall be forever separated from the territory of 
the Germanic Empire and united among themselves by a sep- 
arate Confederation, under the name of the Confederated 
States of the Rhine. 

3. Each of the Kings and Confederated Princes shall re- 
nounce those of his titles which express any relations with 
the Germanic Empire; and on the ist of August next he 
shall cause the Diet to be notified of his separation from the 
Empire. 

4. His Serene Highness the Archchancellor shall take 
the titles of Prince Primate and Most Eminent Highness. 
The title of Prince Primate does not carry with it any pre- 
rogative contrary to the plenitude of sovereignty which each 
of the Confederates shall enjoy. 

6. The common interests of the Confederated States shall 
be dealt with in a Diet, of which the seat shall be at Frank- 
fort, and which shall be divided into two Colleges, to wit : 
the College of Kings and the College of Princes. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor of the French shall be pro- 



CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE 399 

claimed Protector of the Confederation, and in that capacity, 
apon the decease of each Prince Primate, he shall appoint 
the successor of that one. 

35, There shall be between the French Empire and the 
Confederated States of the Rhine, collectively and separately, 
an alliance in virtue of which every continental war which one 
of the High Contracting Parties may have to carry on shall 
immediately become common to all the others. 

38. The contingent to be furnished by each of the Allies 
in case of war is as follows : France shall furnish 200,000 men 
of all arms : the Kingdom of Bavaria 30,000 men of all arms ; 
the Kingdom of Wurtemburg 12,000; the Grand Duke of 
Baden 8,000; the Grand Duke of Berg 5,000; the Grand Duke 
of Darmstadt 4,000; Their Serene Highnesses the Dukes and 
the Prince of Nassau, together with the other Confederated 
Princes, shall furnish a contingent of 4,000 men. 

39. The High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves 
the admission at a later time into the new Confederation of 
other Princes and States of Germany whom it shall be found 
for the common interest to admit thereto. 



B. Note of Napoleon to the Diet. August i, 1806. De 
Clercq, Traites, 11, 183-184. Translation, James Harvey Rob- 
inson, University of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints. 

The undersigned, charge d'aif aires of His Majesty the 
Emperor of the French and King of Italy at the general 
Diet of the German Empire, has received orders from His 
Majesty to make the following declarations to the diet: 

Their Majesties the Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtem- 
berg, the Sovereign Princes of Regensburg, Baden, Berg, 
Hesse-Darmstadt and Nassau, as well as the other leading 
princes of the south and west of Germany have resolved to 
form a confederation between themselves which shall secure 
them against future emergencies, and have thus ceased to 
be states of the Empire. 

The position in which the Treaty of Pressburg has ex- 
plicitly placed the courts allied to France, and indirectly 



400 COA FEDERATION OF THE RHINE 

those princes whose territory they border or surround, being 
incompatible with the existence of an empire, it becomes a 
necessity for those rulers to reorganize their relations upon 
a new system and to remove a contradiction which could 
not fail to be a permanent source of agitation, disquiet and 
danger. 

France, on the other hand, is directly interested in the 
maintenance of peace in Southern Germany and yet must 
apprehend that, the moment she shall cause her troops_ to 
recross the Rhine, discord, the inevitable consequence ot 
contradictory, uncertain and ill-defined conditions, will again 
disturb the peace of the people and reopen, possibly, the war 
on the continent. Feeling it incumbent upon her to advance 
the welfare of her allies and to assure them the enjoyment of 
all the advantages which the Treaty of Pressburg secures 
them and to which she is pledged, France cannot but regard 
the confederation that they have formed as a natural result 
and a necessary sequel to that treaty. 

For a long period successive changes have, from century 
to century, reduced the German constitution to a shadow of 
its former self. Time has altered all the relations in respect 
to size and importance which originally existed among the 
various members of the confederation, both as regards each 
other and the whole of which they have formed a part. 

The Diet has no longer a will of its own. The sentences 
of the superior courts can no longer be executed. Everything 
indicates such serious weakness that the federal bond 
no longer offers any protection whatever and only constitutes 
a source of dissension and discord between the powers. The 
results of three coalitions have increased this weakness to 
the last degree. An electorate has been suppressed by the 
annexation of Hanover to Prussia. A king in the north 
has incorporated with his other lands a province of the Em- 
pire. The Treaty of Pressburg assures complete sovereignty 
to their majesties the Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemberg 
and to His Highness the Elector of Baden. This is a pre- 
rogative which the other electors will doubtless demand, and 
which they are justified in demanding; but this is in harmony 
neither with the letter nor the spirit of the constitution of 
the Empire. 



CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE 



401 



His Majesty the Emperor and King is, therefore, compelled 
to declare that he can no longer acknowledge the existence 
of the German Constitution, recognizing, however, the entire 
and absolute sovereignty of each of the princes whose states 
compose Germany to-day, maintaining with them the same 
relations as with the other independent powers of Europe. 

His Majesty the Emperor and King has accepted the title 
of Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. He has done 
this with a view only to peace, and in order that by his 
constant mediation between the weak and the powerful he 
may obviate every species of dissension and disorder. 

Having thus provided for the dearest interests of his peo- 
ple and of his neighbors, and having assured, so far as in him 
lay, the future peace of Europe and that of Germany in par- 
ticular, heretofore constantly the theatre of war, by remov- 
ing a contradiction which placed people and princes alike 
under the delusive protection of a system contrary both to 
their political interests and to their treaties, His Majesty 
the Emperor and King trusts that the nations of Europe 
will at last close their ears to the insinuations of those who 
would maintain an eternal war upon the continent. He 
trusts that the French armies which have crossed the Rhine 
have done so for the last time, and that the people of Ger- 
many will no longer witness, except in the annals of the past, 
the horrible pictures of disorder, devastation and slaughter 
which war invariably brings with it. 

His Majesty declared that he would never extend the 
limits of France beyond the Rhine, and he has been faithful 
to his promise. At present his sole desire is so to employ 
the means which Providence has confided to him as to free 
the seas, restore the liberty of commerce and thus assure 
the peace and happiness of the world. Backer. 

Regensburg, August i, 1806. 

C. Declaration of the Confederated States. August i, 
1806. De Clercq, Traites, 11, 185-186. 

The undersigned, Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Gen- 
eral Diet of the Germanic Empire, have received orders to 
communicate to Your Excellencies, in the name of their most 
high Principals, the following declaration : 



402 CONFEDERATION OP THE RHINE 

The events of the last three wars which almost without 
interruption have disturbed the repose of Germany, and the 
political changes which have resulted therefrom, have put in 
broad daylight the sad truth that the bond which ought 
to unite the different Members of the Germanic Body is no 
longer sufficient for that purpose, or rather that it is already 
broken in fact; the feeling of this truth has been already a 
long time in the hearts of all Germans ; and however painful 
may have been the experience of latter years, it has in refility 
served only to put beyond doubt the senility of a constitution 
respectable in its origin, but become defective through the in- 
stability inherent in all human institutions. Doubtless it is 
to that instability alone that the scission which was effected 
in the Empire in 1795 must be attributed, and which had for 
result the separation of the interests of the North from those 
of the South of Germany. From that moment all idea of a 
fatherland and of common interests was of necessity bound 
to disappear; the words war of the Empire and peace of the 
Empire became devoid of meaning; one sought in vain for 
Germany in the midst of the Germanic Body. The Princes 
who bordered upon France, left to themselves and exposed 
to all the evils of a war to which they could not seek to put 
an end by constitutional means, saw themselves forced to free 
themselves from the common bond by separate peace ar- 
rangements. 

The Treaty of Luneville, and still more the Recez of the 
Empire of 1803, should no doubt have appeared sufficient to 
give new life to the Germanic Constitution, by causing the 
feeble parts of the system to disappear and by consolidating 
its principal supports. But the events which have occurred 
in the last six months, under the eyes of the entire Empire, 
have destroyed that hope also and have again put beyond 
doubt the complete insufficiency of the existing Constitution. 
The urgency of these important considerations has determined 
the Sovereigns and Princes of the South and West of Ger- 
many to form a new Confederation suited to the circum- 
stances of the time. In freeing themselves, by this dec- 
laration, from the bonds which have united them up to the 
present with the Germanic Empire, they are only following 
the systems established by anterior facts, and even by the 



CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE 



403 



declarations of the leading States of the Empire. It is true, 
they might have preserved the empty shadow of an extinct 
constitution; but they have believed that it was more in 
conformity with their dignity and with the purity of their 
intentions to make frank and open declaration of their res- 
olution and of the motives which have influenced them. 

Moreover, they would flatter themselves in vain upon at- 
taining the desired aim, if they were not at the same time 
assured of a powerful protection. The Monarch whose views 
are always found to be in conformity with the true interests 
of Germany charges himself with that protection. A guar- 
antee so powerful is tranquilizing under a double aspect. 
It offers the assurance that His Majesty^the Emperor of the 
French will have at heart, as well for the interest of his 
glory as for the advantage of his own French Empire, the 
maintenance of the new order of things and the consolidation 
of the internal and external tranquility. That precious tran- 
quility is the principal object of the Confederation of the 
Rhine, of which the Co-States of the sovereigns in whose 
name the present declaration is made will see the proof in the 
opportunity which is left to each of them to accede to it, if 
his position makes it desirable for him to do so. 

In discharging this duty, we have the honor to be, . . 
[Signed by the representatives of thirteen sovereigns.] 

D. Abdication of Francis II. August 7, 1806. Moniteur, 
August 14, 1806. Translation, James Harvey Robinson, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints. 

We, Francis the Second, by the Grace of God Roman Em- 
peror Elect, Ever August, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, 
etc.. King of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, Dalmatia. 
Slavonia, Galizia, Lodomeria and Jerusalem ; Archduke of 
Austria, etc. 

Since the peace of Pressburg all our care and attention 
has been directed towards the scrupulous fulfillment of all 
engagements contracted by the said treaty, as well as the 
preservation of peace so essential to the happiness of our sub- 
jects, and the strengthening in every way of the friendly 
relations which have been happily re-established. We could 
but await the outcome of events in order to determine whether 



404 



CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE 



the important changes in the German Empire resulting from 
the terms of the peace would allow us to fulfill the weighty 
duties which, in view of the conditions of our election, devolve 
upon us as the head of the Empire. But the results of cer- 
tain articles of the Treaty of Pressburg, which showed them- 
selves immediately after and since its publication, as well 
as the events which, as is general^ known, have taken place 
in the German Empire, have convinced us that it would be 
impossible under these circumstances farther to fulfill the. du- 
ties which we assumed by the conditions of our election. 
Even if the prompt readjustment of existing political com- 
plications might produce an alteration in the existing con- 
ditions, the convention signed at Paris, July 12th, and ap- 
proved later by the contracting parties, providing for the 
complete separation of several important states of the Em- 
pire and their union into a separate confederation, would en- 
tirely destroy any such hope. 

Thus, convinced of the utter impossibility of longer ful- 
filling the duties of our imperial office, we owe it to our 
principles and to our honor to renounce a crown which could 
only retain any value in our eyes so long as we were in a 
position to justify the confidence reposed in us by the electors, 
princes, estates and other members of the German Empire, 
and to fulfill the duties devolving upon us. ♦ 

We proclaim, accordingly, that we consider the ties which 
have hitherto united us to the body politic of the German 
Empire as hereby dissolved; that we regard the office and 
dignity of the imperial headship as extinguished by the for- 
mation of a separate union of the Rhenish States, and regard 
ourselves as thereby freed from all our obligations toward 
the German Empire ; herevs^ith laying down the imperial crown 
which is associated with these obligations, and relinquishing 
the imperial government which we have hitherto conducted. 

We free at the same time the electors, princes and estates 
and all others belonging to the Empire, particularly the 
members of the supreme imperial courts and other magis- 
trates of the Empire, from the duties constitutionally due to 
us as the lawful head of the Empire. Conversely, we free 
all our German provinces and imperial lands from all their 
obligations of whatever kind, towards the German Empire. 



THE PEACE OP TILSIT 



405 



In uniting these, as Emperor of Austria, with the whole 
body of the Austrian state we shall strive, with the restored 
and existing peaceful relations with all the powers and neigh- 
boring states, to raise them to the height of prosperity and 
happiness, which is our keenest desire, and the aim of our 
constant and sincerest efforts. 

Done at our capital and royal residence, Vienna, August 
6, 1806, in the fifteenth year of our reign as Emperor and 
hereditary ruler of the Austrian lands. 

Francis. 



79. Documents upon the Peace of Tilsit. 

By the Peace of Tilsit France broke up the Fourth Coalition, 
leaving herself at peace save with England. The first three of 
these documents show the arrangements made at Tilsit as the 
basis for continental peace. Document D shows the manner in 
which certain of the provisions in document C were finally carried 
out. Among the numerous features v/hich call for notice are: (1) 
the character of the alliance made between Russia and Prance ; 
(2) the recent changes in Europe effected by Napoleon and sanc- 
tioned by these treaties ; (3) the humiliation of Prussia through 
loss of territory, payment of indemnity, the stipulations as to its 
Army, etc. 

References. Pyffe, Modern Europe, I, 346-349 (Popular ed., 
233-235); Pournier, Napoleon, 383-390; Rose, Napoleon, II, 115- 
128 ; Sloane, Napoleon, III, Chs. v-vi ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 268- 
285 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 115-117. 

Maps. Droysen, lUstoriscTier Hand-Atlas, 48-49, 53 ; Lane- 
Poole, Historical Atlas of Modern Europe, XII. 

A. Treaty of Peace between France and Russia. July 
7, 1807. De Clercq, Traites, II, 207-213. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine and His Majesty 
the Emperor of all the Russias, being prompted by an equal 
desire to put an end to the calamities of war. . 

I. There shall be, dating from the day of the exchange 
of the ratifications of the present treaty, perfect peace and 
amity between His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King 
of Italy, and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. 



4o6 THE PEACE OF TILSIT 

4. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, out of regard for 
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Ruissias, and' wishing to 
give a proof of his sincere desire to unite the two nations by 
the bonds of an unalterable confidence and friendship, consents 
to restore to His Majesty the King of Prussia, the ally of His 
Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, all the conquered 
countries, cities and territories denominated hereinafter, to 
wit : . . , [The omitted passage is practically identical with 
article 2 of document C] 

5. The provinces which on the ist of January, 1772, made 
up part of the former Kingdom of Poland and which have 
since passed at different times under Prussian domination, with 
the exception of the countries that are named or designated 
in the preceding article and of those specified in article 9 
hereinafter, shall be possessed in complete ownership and sov- 
ereignty by His Majesty the King of Saxony, under the title 
of the Duchy of Warsaw, and shall be governed by constitu- 
tions which, while assuring the liberties and privileges of the 
peoples of this Duchy, are consistent with the tranquility of 
the neighboring States. 

6. The city of Danzig, with a territory of two leagues 
radius from its circumference, shall be re-established in its 
independence, under the protection of His Majesty the King 
of Prussia and His Majesty the ICing of Saxony ♦and shall be 
governed by the laws which governed it at the time when it 
ceased to govern itself. 

12. Their Serene Highnesses the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg, 
Oldenburg, and Mechlinburg-Schwerin shall each be replaced 
in the complete and peaceable possession of his States ; but 
the ports of the Duchies of Oldenburg and Mechlinburg shall 
continue to be occupied by French garrisons until the ex- 
change of the ratifications of the future definitive treaty of 
peace between France and England. 

13. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon accepts the media- 
tion of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias for the 
purpose of negotiating and concluding a definitive treaty of 
peace between France and England, upon the supposition that 
this mediation will also be accepted by England, one month 
after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT 



407 



14. On his side, His Majesty the Emperor of all the Rus- 
sias, wishing to prove how much he desires to establish the 
most intimate and enduring relations between the two Em- 
pires, recognizes His Majesty the King of Naples, Joseph 
Napoleon, and His Majesty the King of Holland, Louis Na- 
poleon. 

15. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias likewise 
recognizes the Confederation of the Rhine, the actual state of 
possession of each of the Sovereigns who compose it, and the 
titles given to several of them, whether by the Act of Con- 
federation or by the subsequent treaties of accession. His 
said Majesty promises to recognize, upon the notifications 
which shall be made to him on the part of His Majesty the 
Emperor Napoleon, the Sovereigns who shall subsequently 
become members of the Confederation, in the capacity which 
shall be given them in the documents which shall bring about 
their entrance to it. 

17. The present treaty of peace and amity is declared com- 
mon to their Majesties the Kings oi Naples and of Holland, 
and to the Confederated Sovereigns of the Rhine, Allies of 
His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon. 

18. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias also rec- 
ognizes His Imperial Highness, Prince Jerome Bonaparte, as 
King of Westphalia. 

19. The Kingdom of Westphalia shall be composed of the 
provinces on the left of the Elbe ceded by His Majesty the 
King of Prussia and of other States actually possessed by 
His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon. 

20. His Majesty the Emiperor of all the Russias promises 
to recognize the arrangement which, in consequence of article 
19 above and of the cessions of His Majesty the King of 
Prussia, shall be made by His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon 
(which shall be announced to His Majesty the Emperor of 
all the Russias) and the resulting state of possession for the 
Sovereigns for whose profit it shall have been made. 

22. The Russian troops shall retire from the provinces 
of Wallachia and Moldavia, but the said provinces can be 



4o8 THE PEACE OF TILSIT 

occupied by the troops of His Highness until the exchange 
of the ratifications of the future definitive treaty of peace 
between Russia and the Ottoman Porte. 

23. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias accepts 
the mediation of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, 
King of Ital}^, for the purpose of negotiating and concluding 
a peace advantageous and honorable to the two Em.pires. 
The respective Plenipotentiaries shall repair to the place which 
the interested parties shall have agreed upon in order to open 
and to pursue the negotiations. 

25. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias mutually 
guarantee the integrity of their possessions and those of the 
Powers included in the present treaty of peace, such as they 
now are or shall be in consequence of the above stipulations. 

28. The ceremonial of the two Courts of the Tuileries and 
of Saint Petersburg between themselves and with respect 
to the Ambassadors, Ministers and Envoys whom they shall 
accredit to each other shall be established upon the principle 
of a perfect reciprocity and equality. 

Separate and Secret Articles. » 

2. The Seven Islands shall be possessed in complete pro- 
prietorship and sovereignty by His Majesty the Emperor Na- 
poleon. 

4. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias engages 
to recognize His Majesty the King of Naples Joseph Napo- 
leon, as King of Sicily as soon as King Ferdinand IV shall 
have an indemnity such as the Balearic islands or the island 
of Candia, or any other of like value. 

5. If, at the time of the future peace with England, Han- 
over should come to be united with the Kingdom of Westpha- 
lia, a territory formed from the countries ceded by His Majesty 
the King of Prussia upon the left bank of the river Elbe, and 
having a population of from three to four hundred thousand 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT 409 

souls, shall cease to make part of that Kmgdom and shall be 
retroceded to Prussia. 

B. Secret Treaty of Alliance between France and Russia, 
July 7, 1807. Fournier's Napoleon I, II, 250-252 (German 
ed.). 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of all the Russias, having particularly at 
heart to re-establish the general peace in Europe upon sub- 
stantial and, if it be possible, immovable foundations, have for 
that purpose resolved to conclude an offensive and defensive 
alliance. . 

1. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, undertake 
to make common cause, whether by land or by sea, or indeed 
by land and by sea, in every war which France or Russia may 
be under the necessity of undertaking against any European 
Power. 

2. The occasion for the alliance occurring, and each 
time that it shall occur, the High Contracting Parties 
shall regulate, by a special convention, the forces which each 
of them shall employ against the common enemy, and the 
points at which these forces shall act ; but for the present they 
undertake to employ, if the circumstances require it, the 
totality of their land and sea forces. 

3. All the operations of the common wars shall be car- 
ried on in concert, and neither of the Contracting Parties 
in any case can treat for peace without the concurrence and 
consent of the other. 

4. If England does not accept the mediation of Russia 
or if having accepted it she does not by the first of November 
next consent to conclude peace, recognizing therein that the 
flags of all the Powers shall enjoy an equal and perfect in- 
dependence upon the seas and restoring therein the conquests 
made by it from France and its Allies since the year eighteen 
hundred and five, when Russia made common cause with it, 
a note shall be sent to the cabinet of St. James in the 
course of the said month of November by the Ambassa- 



410 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT 



dor of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. This 
note, expressing the interest that his said Imperial Majesty- 
takes in the tranquility of the world and the purpose which 
he has of employing all the forces of his Empire to procure 
for humanity the blessing of peace, shall contain the positive 
and explicit declaration that, upon the refusal of England 
to conclude peace upon the aforesaid conditions, His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of all the Russias will make common cause 
with France, and, in case the Cabinet of St. James . shall 
not have given upon the ist of December next a categorical 
and satisfactory reply, the Ambassador of Russia shall re^ 
ceive the contingent order to demand his passports on the 
said day and to leave England at once. 

5. If the case provided for by the preceding article occurs, 
the High Contracting Parties shall act in concert and at the 
same moment summon the three courts of Copenhagen, Stock- 
holm and Lisbon to close their ports to the English, to re- 
call their Ambassadors from London, and to declare war upon 
England. That one of the three Courts which refuses this 
shall be treated as an enemy by the two High Contracting 
Parties, and, if Sweden refuses it, Denmark shall be con- 
strained to declare war upon it. 

6. The two High Contracting Parties shall likewise act 
in concert and shall urge with force upon the Coiirt of Vienna 
that it adopt the principles set forth in article four above, 
that it close its ports to the English, recall its Ambassador 
from London and declare war on England. 

7. If, on the contrary, within the period specified above, 
England makes peace upon the aforesaid conditions [and 
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias shall employ 
all his influence to bring it about], Hanover shall be restored 
to the King of England in compensation for the French, 
Spanish and Dutch colonies. 

8. Likewise, if in consequence of the changes which have 
just occurred at Constantinople, the Porte should not accept 
the mediation of France, or if after it has been accepted it 
should happen that, within the period of three months after 
the opening of the negotiations, they have not led to a sat- 
isfactory result, France will make common cause with Rus- 
sia against the Ottoman Porte, and the two High Contracting 



THE PEACE OP TILSIT 



411 



Parties shall come to an agreement to remove all the provinces 
of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, the city of Constantinople 
and the Province of Roumalia excepted, from the yoke and 
the vexations of the Turks. 

9. The present treaty shall remain secret and shall not 
be made public nor communicated to any Cabinet by one of 
the two Contracting Parties without the consent of the other. 

It shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof exchanged 
at Tilsit within the space of four days. 

Done at Tilsit, July 7, 1807 (June twenty-fifth, eighteen 
hundred seven [Russian style]). 

C. Treaty of Peace between France and Prussia. July 9, 
1807. De Clercq, Traites, II, 217-223. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Maj- 
esty the King of Prussia, being prompted by an equal desire 
to put an end to the calamities of war. . 

1. There shall be, dating from the day of the exchange of 
the ratifications of the present Treaty, perfect peace and amity 
between His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of 
Italy, and His Majesty the King of Prussia. 

2. The portion of the Duchy of Magdeburg situated to 
the right of the Elbe; the Mark of Prignltz, the Unker- 
Mark, the middle and the new Mark of Brandenburg, with 
the exception of the Cotbuser-Kreis or circle of Cotbus in 
lower Lusace ; the duchy of Pomerania ; upper, lower and 
middle Silesia, with the county of Glatz ; the portion of the 
district of Netze situated to the north of the causeway run- 
ning from Driesen to Schneidemiihl and of a line run- 
ning from Schneidemiihl to the Vistula at Waldau, follow- 
ing the limits of the circle of Bromberg ; Pommerellen ; the 
island of Nogat; the countries to the right of Nogat and the 
Vistula, to the east of Old Prussia and to the north of the cir- 
cle of Kulm ; Ermeland ; and, lastly, the Kingdom of Prussia, 
such as it was on January i, 1772, shall be restored to His 
Majesty the King of Prussia, with the places of Spandau, 
Stettin, Kustrin, Glogau, Braslau, Schweidnitz, Neisse, Brieg, 
Kosel, and Glatz, and generally all the places, citadels, chat- 
eaux, and strongholds of the countries denominated above, in 



412 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT 



the condition in which the said places, citadels, chateaux and 
strongholds now are. The cities and citadels of Graudenz, with 
the villages of Neudorf, Parschken and Swirkorzy, shall also 
be restored to His Majesty the King of Prussia. 

3. His Majesty the King of Prussia recognizes His Maj- 
esty the King of Naples, Joseph Napoleon; and His Majesty 
the King of Holland, Louis Napoleon. 

4. His Majesty the King of Prussia likewise recognizes 
the Confederation of the Rhine, the actual state of possession 
of each of the sovereigns who compose it, and the titles 
given to several of them, whether by the Act of Confeder- 
ation or by the subsequent treaties of accession. His Majesty 
promises to recognize the Sovereigns Avho shall subsequently 
become members of the said Confederation, in the capacity 
which shall be given them by the documents which shall bring 
about their entrance to it. 

5. The present Treaty of peace and amity is declared 
common to His Majesty the King of Naples, Joseph Napoleon,. 
to His Majesty the King of Holland, and the Confederated 
Sovereigns of the Rhine, allies of His Majesty the Emperor 
Napoleon. 

6. His Majesty the King of Prussia likewise recognizes 
His Imperial Highness Prince Jerome Napoleon as King of 
Westphalia. * 

7. His Majesty the King of Prussia cedes in complete 
ownership and sovereignty to the Kings, Grand Dukes, Dukei 
or Princes who shall be designated by His Majesty the Em- 
peror of the French, King of Italy, all the Duchies, Marquis- 
doms,. Principalities, Counties, Lordships and generally all 
the territories or parts of any territories, as well as all the 
domains and landed estates of every nature which His Said 
Majesty the King of Prussia possessed by any title whatsoever 
between the Rhine and the Elbe at the commencement of the 
present war. 

8. The Kingdom of Westphalia shall be composed of prov- 
inces ceded by His Majesty the King of Prussia and of other 
States actually possessed by His Majesty the Emperor Na- 
poleon. 

9. The disposition which shall be made by His Majesty 
the Emperor Napoleon of the countries designated in the two 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT 



413 



preceding articles and the state of possession resulting there- 
from to the Sovereigns for whose profit it shall have been 
made, shall be recognized by His Majesty the King of Prussia, 
in the same manner as if it were already effected and were 
■contained in the present Treaty. 

10. His Majesty the King of Prussia, for himself, his heirs 
and successors, renounces all present or contingent right which 
he can have or la}^ claim to: ist. Upon all the territories, 
without exception, situated between the Rhine and the Elbe 
other than those designated in article 7; 2d. Upon those of 
the possessions of His Majesty the King of Saxony and of 
the House of Anhalt which are upon the right of the Elbe; 
reciprocally, every present or contingent right and every 
claim of the States included between the Elbe and the Rhine 
upon the possessions of His Majesty the King of Prussia, as 
they shall be in consequence of the present Treaty, are and 
shall remain forever extinguished. 

11. All Agreements, Conventions or Treaties of Alliance, 
open or secret, which may have been concluded between Prus- 
sia and any of the states situated to the left of the Elbe, and 
which the present war shall not have dissolved, shall remain 
without effect and shall be regarded as null and void. 

12. His Majesty the King of Prussia cedes in complete 
ownership and sovereignty to His Majesty the King of Sax- 
ony the Cotbuser-Kreis or Circle of Cotbus in lower Lusatia. 

13. His Majesty the King of Prussia renounces in per- 
petuity the possession of all the provinces which, having be- 
longed to the Kingdom of Poland subsequent to the ist of Jan- 
uary, 1807, have passed at various times under the domination 

■of Prussia, with the exception of Ermeland and the countries 
situated to the west of old Prussia, to the east of Pomerania 
and the new Mark, to the north of the circle of Kulm and 
of a line running from the Vistula to Schneidemiihl through 
Waldau, following the limits of the circle of Bomberg and of 
the causeway running from Schneidenuihl to Drisen, which, 
with the city and citadel of Graudenz and the villages of 
Neudorf, Parschken, and Swierkorzy, shall continue to be 
possessed in complete ownership and sovereignty by His Maj- 
esty the King of Prussia. 



414 THE PEACE OF TILSIT 

14. His Majesty the King of Prussia likewise renounces 
in perpetuity the possession of Dantzig. 

15. The Provinces which His Majesty the King of Prussia 
renounces by article 13 above (with the exception of the 
territory specified in article 18 above) shall be possessed in 
complete ownership and sovereignty by His Majesty the King 
of Saxony, under the title of the Duchy of Warsaw, and shall 
be governed by constitutions which, while assuring the liber- 
ties and privileges of the peoples of this duchy, are consistent 
with the tranquility of the neighboring States. 

ig. The city of Dantzig, with a territory of two leagues 
radius from its circumference, shall be re-established in its 
independence, under the protection of His Majesty the King 
of Prussia and of His Majesty the King of Saxony and shall 
be governed by the laws which governed it at the time when 
it ceased to govern itself. 

21. The city, port and territory of Dantzig, shall be closed 
during the continuance of the present maritime war to the 
commerce and navigation of the English. 

2J. Until the day of the exchange of the ratifications of 
the future definitive Treaty of peace between France and Eng- 
land, all the countries under the domination of His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, without exception, shall be closed to the 
navigation and commerce of the English. No shipment can be 
made from Prussian ports for the British islands, nor can any 
vessel coming from England or its colonies be received in the 
said ports. 

Secret Articles. 

2. His Majesty the King of Prussia engages to make com- 
mon cause with France against England, if, on the ist of De- 
cember, England has not consented to conclude a peace upon 
conditions reciprocally honorable to the two nations and con- 
formable to the true principles of maritime law ; in. such case, 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT 415 

there shall be a special convention made to regulate the exe- 
cution of the above stipulation. 

D. . Treaty between France and Prussia. September 8, 
1808. De Clercq, Traites, II, 270-272. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine and His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, wishing to remove the difficulties which 
have occurred in the execution of the treaty of Tilsit, . 

I. The amount of the sums due from the Prussian States 
to the French army, as well for extraordinary contribution as 
for arrears of revenues, is fixed at 140 million francs ; and by 
means of the payment of the said sum, every claim of France 
upon Prussia, on the ground of war contributions, shall be ex- 
tinguished. This sum of 140 millions shall be deposited within 
twenty days from the exchange of the ratifications of the pres- 
ent Treaty in the counting house of the Receiver General of 
the army, to wit : half in ready money or in good and accept- 
able bills of exchange, payable at the rate of 6 millions per 
month dating from the day of the exchange of the ratifications 
and the payment of which ,shall be guaranteed by the Prus- 
sian treasury. The other half [shall be] in land notes of priv- 
ileged mortgage upon the royal domains, which shall be reim- 
bursable within the space of from one year to eighteen months 
after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. 

5. The places of Glogau, Stettin and Custrin shall remain 
in the power of the French army until the entire discharge of 
the bills of exchange and the land notes given in payment of 
the contribution mentioned in the first article. ... 

15. His Majesty the Emperor and King guarantees to His- 
Majesty the King of Prussia the integrity of his territory, on 
condition that His Majesty the King of Prussia remains the 
faithful ally of France. 

16. His Majesty the King of Prussia recognizes as King 
of Spain and of the Indies His Majesty Joseph-Napoleon, and 
as King of the Two Sicilies His Majesty Joachim-Napoleon. 



4i6 THE PEACE OF TILSIT 

Separate Articles. 

I. His Majesty the King of Prussia, wishing to avoid 
everything which can give umbrage to France, makes engage- 
ment to maintain for ten years, dating from January i, 
i8og, only the number of troops specij&ed below, to wit : 

10 Regiments of infantry, forming at most an effec- 
tive of 22,000 men. 

8 Regiments of cavalry or 32 squadrons forming at 
most an effective of 8,000 

A Corps of artillerymen, miners and sappers, at most 

of 6,000 '• 

Not included the Guard of the King estimated, in- 
fantry and cavalry, at most 6,000 



Total, 42,000 men. 

2. At the expiration of the ten years. His Majesty the King 
■of Prussia shall re-enter into the common right arid shall 
maintain the number of troops which shall seem to him suit- 
able, according to circumstances. 

3. During these ten years there shall not be any extraordi- 
nary levy of militia or of citizen guards, nor any mustering 
that tends to augment the forces above specified. 



5. In return for the guarantee stipulated in the Treaty of 
this day, and as security of the alliance contracted»with France, 
His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to make common 
cause with His Majesty the Emperor of the French if war 
comes to be declared between him and Austria, and in that 
case, to place at his disposal a division of 16,000 men, infantry 
as well as cavalry and artillery. 

The present engagement shall continue for ten years. Never- 
theless, the King of Prussia, not having been able yet to form 
liis military establishment, shall not be held for any contingent 
during the present year, and shall be bound to furnish in the 
year 1809, if war should break out, which the present amicable 
relations between France and Austria in no wise give occasion 
to fear, only a contingent of 12,000 men, infantry as well as 
cavalry. 



SUPPRESSION OF THE TRIBUNATE 417 

80. Senatus-Consultum for Suppressing the Tribunate. 

August 19, 1807. Duvergier, Lois, XVI, 151-152. 

Before its suppression by tliis document the Tribunate had been 
the forum for the discussion of legislative measures. Although 
its meetings were not public this discussion was displeasing to Na- 
poleon and he dissolved it, in order "to simplify and perfect the 
institutions." The manner of its suppression and the substitute 
arrangement should be noted. 

RefkPvENCes. Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 333-336; Lavisse and 
Kambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 228-229. 

1. For the future, counting from the end of the session 
which is about to open, the preliminary discussion of the laws 
which is carried on by the sections of the Tribunate shall be 
performed, during the continuance of each session, by three 
commissions of the Corps-Legislatif, under the titles : 

The first, of commission of civil and criminal legislation; 
The second, of commission of internal administration; 
The third, of commission of the finances. 

2. Each of these commissions shall deliberate separately 
and without spectators ; they shall be composed of seven mem- 
iDers selected by the Corps-Legislatif through secret ballot and 
a majority of the votes. The president shall be appointed by 
the Emperor, either from among the members of the commis- 
sion or from among the other members of the Corps-Legisla- 
tif. 

3. The form of the ballot shall be arranged in such a man- 
ner that there may be, as far as shall be possible, four juris- 
consultes upon the commission of legislation. 

4. In case of disagreement of opinion between the section 
of the Council of State which shall have drawn up the project 
of law and the proper commission of the Corps-Legislatif, both 
of them shall meet together in conference under the presidency 
of the Archchancellor of the Empire or the Archtreasurer, ac- 
cording to the nature of the matters to be examined. 

5. If the Councillors of State and the members of the com- 
mission of the Corps-Legislatif are of the same opinion, the 
president of the commission shall be heard, after the orator of 
the Council of State shall have set forth before the Corps- 
Legislatif the reasons for the law. 

6. When the commission shall have decided against the 
project of law, all the members of the commission shall have 

14 



4i8 



OVERTHROW OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY 



power to set forth before the Corps-Legislatif the reasons for 
their opinion. 

7. The members of the commission who shall have dis- 
cussed a project of law .shall be admitted, as are the other 
members of the Corps-Legislatif, to vote upon the project. 

8. When circumstances shall give occasion for the exam- 
ination of some project of particular importance, it shall be 
lawful for the Emperor, in the interval of tw^o sessions, to sum- 
mon the members of the Corps-Legislatif necessary to form-the 
commissions, who shall proceed immediately to the preliminary 
discussion of the project : these commissions shall be ap- 
pointed for the next session. 

9. The members of the Tribunate who, by the terms of the 
act of the Conservative Senate dated 17 Fructidor, Year X 
ought to remain until in the Year XIX, and whose powers, by 
article 89 of the act of the constitutions of the Empire of 28 
Floreal, Year XII, have been extended until in the Year XXI, 
corresponding to the year 1812 of the Gregorian calendar, shall 
enter the Corps-Legislatif and shall make part of that body 
until the date at which their functions would have ceased in 
the Tribunate. 

10. For the future, nobody can be chosen a member of the 
Corps-Legislatif unless he is at lea.st fully forty years of age. 



81. Documents upon the Overthrow of the Spanish 
Monarchy. 

The first of these documents shows the manner in which Na- 
poleon secured the military position in Spain which enabled him 
to dicta.te terms to the Spanish king and heir apparent. Docu- 
ment B shows the terms forced upon the King. A similar agree- 
ment was also forced upon the heir apparent. In both documents 
B and C there is something shown in regard to the manner in 
which the transaction was effected and oflacially justified. 

Referexces. FyfiEe, Modern Europe, I. 367-387 (Popular ed.^ 
247-261) ; Foumier, Napoleon, 425-436 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, Ch. 
xxviii ; Sloane, Napoleon, III, 95-119 ; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 
299-314, 362-433 ; Hume, Modern Spain, 78-134 ; Henry Adams„ 
History of the United States, IV, 115-125, 290-291, 297-303, 315- 
316 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 185-191, 200- 
208. 

A. Convention of Fontainebleau. October 27, 1807. De 
Clercq, Traites, II, 235-236. 



OVERTHROW OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY 



419 



His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, etc., 
etc., etc., and His Majesty the King of Spain, desiring to reg- 
ulate by a joint agreement the interests of the two States and 
to determine the future fate of Portugal, in a manner consistent 
with the policy of the two countries, ... 

1. The provinces between the Minho and the Duero, with 
the city of Oporto, shall be given in full ownership and sover- 
eignty to His Majesty the King of Etruria, imder the title of 
King of Northern Lusitania. 

2. The Province of Alemte and the Kingdom of Algarve 
shall be given in full ownership and sovereignty to the Prince 
of the Peace, to be enjoyed under the title of Prince of Al- 
garve. 

3. The Provinces of Beira, Tras-os-Montes, and Portu- 
guese Estremadura, shall remain in trust until the general 
peace, to be disposed of then according to circumstances, and 
according to what shall be agreed upon between the 2 High 
Contracting Parties. 

9. His Majesty the King of Etruria cedes in complete own- 
ership and sovereignty the Kingdom of Etruria to His Maj- 
esty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy. 

11. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Itai3% 
guarantees to His Majesty the King of Spain the possession 
of his States on the Continent of Europe situated to the south 
of the Pyrenees. 

12. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
agrees to recognize and to cause to be recognized His Majesty 
the King of Spain as Emperor of the Two Americas, when 
everything shall be prepared so that His Most Catholic Majesty 
can take that title, which shall be at the general peace or at the 
latest within three years. 

13. The two High Contracting Parties shall agree to make 
an equal partition of the islands, colonies and other beyond- 
the-sea possessions of Portugal. 

14. The present convention shall remain secret ; it shall be 
ratified and, the ratifications thereof .shall be exchanged at 
Madrid at the latest twenty days after the signing. 



420 OVERTHROW OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY 

B. Convention with Charles IV. May 5, 1808. De Clercq, 
Traites, II, 246-248. 

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector 
of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Charles IV, King of 
Spain and the Indies, animated by an equal desire to promptly 
put an end to the anarchy to which Spain is a prey and to save 
that valiant nation from the agitations of factions, wishing to 
spare it all the convulsions of civil and foreign war and to place 
it without disturbances in the only position which, under' the 
extraordinary circumstances in which it finds itself, can pre- 
serve its integrity, guarantee it its colonies and enable it also to 
unite all its means with those of France in order to obtain a 
maritime peace, have resolved to unite all their efforts and to 
regulate in a special convention such precious interests . . . 

1. His Majesty King Charles having had in view during all 
his life only the welfare of his subjects, and relying upon the 
principle that all the acts of a sovereign ought to be done only 
in order to attain that aim; able to be under the existing cir- 
cumstances only a source of dissensions, all the more fatal 
since the factions have divided his own family, has resolved to 
cede, as he does cede by the present [convention], to His Maj- 
esty the Emperor Napoleon all his right to the throne of Spain 
and the Indies, as to the only one who at the pbint to which 
affairs therein have arrived can re-establish order; intending 
that the said cession shall take place only in order to cause his 
subjects to enjoy the two following conditions. 

2. 1st. The integrity of the Kingdom shall be maintained; 
the Prince whom the Emperor Napoleon shall decide that he 
ought to place upon the throne of Spain shall be independent, 
and the boundaries of Spain shall not suffer any alteration. 

2d. The Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion shall be 
the only one in Spain ; there cannot be tolerated there any re- 
formed religion and still less infidelity, according to the usage 
established today. 

[The omitted articles provide, inter alia, that the Spanish 
royal family shall have a refuge in France, a palace and 
grounds, a stipulated income and the enjoyment of their royal 
rank.] 



ERFURT CONVENTION 42I 

II. The present convention shall remain secret until the 
Two High Contracting Parties shall see fit to make it known; 
it shall be ratified, and the ratification thereof shall be ex- 
changed within eight days or as much sooner as shall be pos- 
sible. 

Done at Bayonne, May 5, 1808. 

C. Imperial Decree proclaiming Joseph Bonaparte King of 
Spain. June 6, 1808. Moniteur, June 22, 1808. 

Napoleon, by the grace of God, Emperor of the French, 
King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, to 
all those who shall see these presents, greeting. 

The Junta of State, the Council of Castile, the city of Ma- 
drid, etc., etc., having made known to us by addresses that the 
welfare of Spain requires that an end should be promptly put 
to the interregnum, we have resolved to proclaim, a,s we do 
proclaim by the present [proclamation], that our well beloved 
brother Joseph Napoleon, at present King of Naples and Sicily, 
is King of Spain and the Indies. 

We guarantee to the King of Spain the integrity of his 
States, whether in Europe, Africa, Asia, or America. 

We enjoin upon the lieutenant general of the kingdom, the 
ministers, and the Council of Castile, to cause the present pro- 
clamation to be despatched and published in the accustomed 
forms, in order that nobody can pretend grounds of ignorance 
of it. 

Given at our imperial palace at Bayonne, June 6, 1808. 

Signed, Napoleon. 



82. The Erfurt Convention. 



October 12, 1808. De Clercq, Traites, II, 284-286. 

This document should be studied in connection with No. 79. 
The Spanish rising against Napoleon for a time threatened to pro- 
duce a general rising against his domination. Napoleon, however, 
induced the Czar to meet him at Erfurt, where a series of confer- 
ences led to the signing of this convention. The consolidation of 
the Franco-Russian alliance prevented the threatened general ris- 
ing. Both the generial character and the special terms of this 
alliance, as set forth in the document, merit careful attention. 

Refekencks. Fournier, 'Napoleon, 438-444 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 



422 



ERFURT CONVENTION 



164-170; Sloane, Napoleon, 111, 133-138.; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 
485-494 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoirc Generals, IX, 135-147. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and His Majesty 
the Emperor of all the Russias, wishing to cause the alliance 
which unites them to be more and more close and forever dur- 
able, and reserving to themselves to agree subsequently, if there 
is need, upon the new determinations to be taken and the new 
means of attack to be directed against England, their common 
enemy and the enemy of the continent, have resolved to estab- 
lish in a special convention the principles which they are de- 
termined to follow invariably in all their measures fo obtain 
the re-establishment of peace. . 

1. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
etc., and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias confirm 
and, in a,s far as there is need, renew the alliance concluded 
between them at Tilsit; binding themselves, not only not to 
make any separate peace with the common enemy, but in ad- 
dition not to enter into any negotiation with it, and not to listen 
to any of its proposals except by common consent. 

2. Thus resolved to remain inseparably united for peace 
as well as for war, the High Contracting Parties agree to ap- 
point Plenipotentiaries to treat for peace with England and to 
send them for this purpose to. the city of the continent which 
England .shall designate. 

3- In all the course of the negotiation, if it occurs, the re- 
spective Plenipotentiaries of the High Contracting Parties shall 
constantly act with the most perfect accord, and it shall not be 
permissible for either of them to support, nor even to receive 
or approve contrary to the interests of the other Contracting 
Party any proposal or demand of the English Plenipotentiaries, 
which, taken by itself and favorable to the interests of England, 
may also present some advantage to one of the Contracting 
Parties. 

4. The basis of the treaty with England shall be the uti 
possidetis. 

5. The High Contracting Parties bind themselves to con- 
sider as an absolute condition of peace with England that she 



ERFURT CONVENTION 



423 



shall recognize Finland, Wallachia, and Moldavia as making 
part of the Empire of Russia. 

6. They agree to consider as an absolute condition of the 
peace that England shall recognize the new order of things 
established by France in Spain, 

7. The High Contracting Parties agree not to receive from 
the side of the enemy during the continuance of the negotia- 
tions any proposal, offer or communication whatsoever, without 
immediately sharing it with the respective courts: and if the 
said proposals are made at the Congress assembled for the 
peace, the respective Plenipotentiaries shall be bound to com- 
municate them. 

8. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, in conse- 
quence of all the revolutions and changes which disturb the Ot- 
toman Empire and which do not leave any possibihty of giving, 
and in consequence any hope of obtaining, sufficient guarantees 
for the persons and goods of the inhabitants of Wallachia and 
Moldavia, having already carried the limits of his Empire to the 
Danube on that side and united Wallachia and Moldavia with 
his Empire, and being able only on that condition to recognize 
the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, the Emperor Napoleon 
recognizes the said union and the said limits of the Russian 
Empire, extended on that side to the Danube. 

9. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias agrees to 
keep in the most profound secrecy the preceding article and to 
enter upon a negotiation, either at Constantinople or anywhere 
else, in order to obtain amicably, if that be possible, the cession 
of these two provinces. France renounces its mediation. The 
Plenipotentiaries or agents of the two powers shall agree upon 
the language to be held. In order not to compromise the friend- 
ship existing between France and the Porte, nor the security 
of the French who reside in the Turkish dominions in order 
to prevent the Porte throwing itself into the arms of England. 

10. In case the war should happen to be rekindled, the Ot- 
toman Porte refusing the cession of the two provinces, the 
Emperor Napoleon shall not take any part therein and shall 
confine himself to the employment of his good offices with the 
Ottoman Porte; but if It should happen that Austria or any 
other power should make common cause with the Ottoman 
Empire in the said war, His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon 



424 FRENCH REPUBLIC 

shall immediately make common cause with Russia, being 
obliged to consider this case as one of those of the general al- 
liance which unites the two Empires. In case Austria should 
engage in war against France, the Emperor of Russia agrees to 
declare himself against Austria and to make common cause 
with France, that case being likewise one of those to which 
the alliance that unites the two Empires appHes. 

11. The High Contracting Parties bind themselves, more- 
over, to maintain the integrity of the other possessions of .the 
Ottoman Empire, not wishing to undertake themselves or suffer 
that there should be undertaken any enterprise against any part 
of that Empire, unless they should be previously informed of it. 

12. If the measures taken by the two High Contracting 
Parties are unavailing, either because England evades the pro- 
posal which shall be made to it, or because the negotiations are 
broken off, their Imperial Majesties shall meet again within 
the space of one year, in order to agree upon the operations of 
the common war and upon the means to pursue it with all the 
forces and all the resources of the two Empires. 

13. The two High Contracting Parties, wishing to recog- 
nize the loyalty and the perseverance with which the King of 
Denmark has supported the common cause, agree to procure 
for him an indemnification for his sacrifices and to recognize the 
acquisitions which he shall have been in a position to make in 
the present war. 

14. The present convention shall be kept secret for at least 
the space of ten years. 



83. Decree upon the Term, French Republic. 

October 22, 1808. Duvergier, Lois, XVI, 312. 

The time and manner in which the idea of the Republic dis- 
appeared from French institutions is a matter of much importance 
for the comprehension of the method whereby Napoleon built up 
his power. This document serves to fix the date of its final dis- 
appearance ; something- of the manner in which it was eliminated 
can be seen from an examination of Nos. 58, 66 E and 71. 

Reference. Aulard, Revolution Francaise, 778-780. 

I. The monies which shall be coined dating from January 



ANNEXATIONS OF 1809-1810 



425 



I, 1809, shall bear for legend upon the reverse of the piece the 
words, French Empire, in lieu of those of French Republic. 

2. Our Minister of Finance is charged with the execution of 
the present decree. 



84. Documents upon the Annexations of 1809-1810. 

In 3809-1810 Napoleon annexed to France a great deal of ter- 
ritory. All of it had for some time been dependent upon France. 
These documents show most of the territory taken, some of the 
reasons assigned for its annexation, something of the manner in 
which the former rulers were treated, land the kind of special ar- 
rangements made for the territory as part of France. 

Refeeences. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 436-441 (Popular ed., 
294-297) ; Fournier, Napoleon, 495-498, 506-511 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
JI, 141-142, 195-198; Sloane, Napoleon, III, 201-204, 211-214; 
Lanfrey, Napoleon, IV, 252-264, 278-303, 341-343 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire Qencrale, IX, 275-278, 766-767. 

As the Empire of Napoleon was at its height following these 
annexations, its territorial extent and the relationship of the va- 
rious parts may be profitably studied at this point. 

Maps. Droysen, Historischcr Hand-Atlas, 59 ; Lane-Poole, His- 
torical Atlas of Modern Europe, LIX ; Schrader, Atlas de Geo- 
giapMe Historique, 43 ; Vidal-Lablache, Atlas General, 40-41. 

A. Imperial Decree for the Annexation of the Papal States. 
May 17, 1809. Correspondancc de Napoleon I, XIX, 15-16. 
Translation, James Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsyl- 
vania Translations and Reprints. 

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Pro- 
tector of the Confederation of the Rhine, etc., in consideration 
of the fact that when Charlemagne, Emperor of the French 
and our 'august predecessor, granted several counties to the 
Bishops of Rome Ije ceded these only as fiefs .and for the good 
of his realm and Rome did not by reason of this c'ession 
cease to form a part of his empire; farther that since this asso- 
ciation of spiritual and temporal authority has been and still 
is a source of dissensions and has but too often led the pontiffs 
to employ the influence of the former to maintain the pre- 
tensions of the latter, and thus the spiritual concerns and heav- 
enly interests which are unchanging have been confused with 



426 ANNEXATIONS OF 1809-1810 

terrestrial affairs which by their nature alter according to 
circumstances and the policy of the time; and since all our 
proposals for reconciling the security of our armies, the tran- 
quility and the welfare of our people and the dignity and in- 
tegrity of our Empire, with the temporal pretensions of the 
Popes have failed, we have decreed and do decree what fol- 
lows ; 

1. The Papal States are reunited to the French Empire. 

2. The City of Rome, so famous by reason of the great 
memories which cluster about it and as the first seat of 
Christianity, is proclaimed a free imperial cit}^ The organiza- 
tion of the government and administration of the said city 
shall be provided by a special statute. 

3. The remains of the structures erected by the Romans 
shall be maintained and preserved at the expense of our treas- 
ury. 

4. The public debt shall become an imperial debt. 

5. The lands and domains of the Pope shall be increased 
to a point where they shall produce an annual net revenue of 
two millions. 

6. The lands and domains of the Pope as well as his 
palaces shall be exempt from all taxes, jurisdiction or visita- 
tion, and shall enjoy special immunities. 

7. On the first of Tune of the present year a special 
consultus shall take possession of the Papal States in our 
name and shall make the necessary provisions in order that a 
constitutional system shall be organized and may be put in 
force on January first 1810. 

Given at our Imperial Camp at Vienna, May 17th, 1809. 

Napoleon. 

B. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annexation of the 
Papal States. February 17, 1810. Duvergier, Lois, XVII, 2/. 

TITLE I. OF THE UNION OF THE STATES OF ROME WITH THE> 
EMPIRE. 

1. The State of Rome is united with the French Empire 
and makes an integral part thereof. 

2. It shall form two departments, the department of 
Rome and the department of Trasimeno. 

3. The department of Rome shall have seven deputies in 



ANNEXATIONS OP 1809-1810 



427 



the Corps-Legislatif ; the department of Trasimeno shall have 
four. 

5. There shall be a senatorship established for the depart- 
ments of Rome and Trasimeno. 

6. The city of Rome is the second city of the Empire. 
The mayor of Rome is present at the taking of the oath by the 
Emperor at his accession : he takes rank, along with the depu- 
tation of the city of Rome, on all occasions immediately after 
the mayors and deputations of the city of Paris. 

7. The Prince Imperial bears the title and receives the 
honors of King of Rome. 

8. There shall be at Rome a prince of the blood or a 
grand dignitary of the Empire, who shall hold the court of the 
Emperor. 

10. After having been crowned in the church of Notre 
Dame at Paris, the Emperors shall be crowned in the church 
of Saint Peter at Rome, before the tenth year of their reign. 

11. The city of Rome shall enjoy the special privileges 
and immunities which shall be determined by the Emperor 
Napoleon. 

TITLE II. OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE IMPERIAL THRONE OF 
EVERY AUTHORITY UPON EARTH. 

12. Any foreign sovereignty is incompatible with the exer- 
cise of any spiritual authority within the interior of the Em- 
pire. 

13. At the time of their elevation [to the papal dignity], 
the Popes shall take oath never to do anything contrary to the 
four propositions of the Gallican Church, decreed in the as- 
sembly of the clergy in 1682. 

14. The four propositions of the Gallican Church are de- 
clared common to all the Catholic churches of the Empire. 

TITLE III. OF THE TEMPORAL POSITION OF THE POPES. 

15. Palaces shall be prepared for the Pope in the different 
places of the Em.pire in which he may wish 10 reside. There 
shall be necessarilv one at Paris and one at Rome. 



^28 ANNEXATIONS OF 1809-1810 

i6. Two raillions of revenue in rural estates, free from all 
taxation and situated in the different parts of the Empire, 
shall be assigned to the Pope. 

17. The expenses of the Sacred College and of the Propa- 
ganda are declared imperial [expenses]. 

C. Treaty with Holland. March 16, 1810. De Clercq, 
Traites, II, 328-330. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the 
Swiss Confederation, and His Majesty the King of Holland, 
wishing to put an end to the difficulties which have arisen be- 
tween them and to reconcile the independence of Holland with 
the new circumstances in which the Orders in Council of Eng- 
land of 1807 have placed all the maritime Powers, have "agreed 
to come to an understanding, and have appointed plenipoten- 
tiaries for that purpose, to wit : . . . 

1. Until the British Government has formally renounced 
the methods comprised in its Orders in Council of 1807, all 
commerce whatsoever between the ports of Holland and the 
ports of England is forbidden. If there is occasion to give li- 
censes, those given in the name of the Emperor shall be the 
only valid ones. 

2. A body of troops consisting of 18,000 men,_ of which 
3,000 shall be cavalry, composed of 6,000 Frenchmen and 
12,000 Hollanders, shall be placed at all the mouths of the 
rivers with the employes of the French customs-houses, in 
order to watch over the execution of the preceding article. 

3. These troops shall be taken care of, fed and clothed 
by the government of Holland. 

4. Every prize taken upon the coasts of Holland by French 
ships of war or privateers from vessels contravening article i 
shall be declared good prize; in case of doubt the difficulty can 
be adjudged only by His Majesty the Emperor. 

5. The provisions contained in the above articles shall be 
annulled as soon as England shall have solemnly revoked its 
Orders in Council oi 1807, and from that moment the French 
troops shall evacuate Holland and shall leave it to enjoy the 
whole of its independence. 

6. It being a constitutional principle in France that the 



ANNEXATIONS OF 1809-1810 



429 



Thalweg of the Rhine is the boundary of the French Empire, 
and the ship yards of Antwerp, being unguarded and exposed 
through the existing situation of the boundaries of the two 
States, His Majesty the King of Holland cedes to His Miajesty 
the Emperor of the French, etc., Dutch Brabant, the whole of 
Zeeland, including therein the island of Sohouwen, and part 
of Gelderland upon the left bank of the Waal, in such a 
manner that the boundary of France and of Holland shall be 
henceforth the Thalwes of the Waal, . . . 



8. His Majesty the King of Holland, in order to co-oper- 
ate with the forces of the French Empire, shall have at anchor 
a fleet of 9 ships of the line and. 6 frigates, armed and pro- 
visioned for six months and ready to put sail on July ist next, 
and a flotilla of 100 gunboats or other ships of war. This 
force shall be kept up and made constantly disposable during 
the entire war. 

10. All merchandise arriving upon American vessels en- 
tered into the ports of Holland since January i, 1809, shall 
be placed in sequestration and shall belong to France to be 
disposed of according to circumstances and its political re- 
lations with the United States. 

11. All merchandise of English manufacture is prohib- 
ited in Holland. 

12. Police measures shall be taken to look after and to 
cause the arrest of insurers of contraband, contrabandists, 
their abettors, etc. ; finally, the government of Holland agrees 
that it will destroy contraband. 

15. Filled with confidence as to the manner in which the 
engagements resulting from the present treaty will be ful- 
filled. His Majesty the Emperor and King guarantees the in- 
tegrity of the possessions of Holland as they shall be in 
virtue of this treaty. 

16. The present treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications 
thereof shall be exchanged at Paris within the space of fifteen 
days or sooner if it is possible to do so. 

Done at Paris, March 16, 1810. 



430 TREATY OF VIENNA 

D. Organic Senatus-Consultum for the Annexation of 
Holland and North Germany, December 13, 1810. Duvergicr, 
Lois, XVII, 235. 

1. Holland, the Hanseatic cities, Lauenburg, and the coun- 
tries situated between the North Sea and a line drawn from 
the confluence of the Lippe with the Rhine to Haltern, from 
Haltern to the Ems below Telgte; from the Ems to the con- 
fluence of the Werre with the Weser, and from Stozenau upon 
the Weser to the Elbe below the confluence of the Steckenitz, 
shall make an integral part of the French Empire. 

2. The said countries shidl form ten departments to wit: 

3. The number of deputies of these department in the 
Corps-Legislatif shall be . . . [29 in all]. 

8. One senatorship shall be established for the depart- 
ments forming the jurisdiction of the Imperial Court of the 
Hague, and another for the departments forming the juris- 
diction of the Imperial Court of Hamburg. 

9. The cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Bre- 
men, and Lubeck, are included among the good cities of 
which the mayors are present at the taking of the oath of 
the Emperor at his accession. * 



85. Treaty of Vienna. 

October 14, 1809. De Clercq, Traitcs, II, 293-299. 

This treaty came at the end of the fourth war which Austria 
had fought against France since the beginning of the Revolution. 
Its terms should be compared with those of the three preceding 
treaties, Campo Formio, Luneville and Pressburg (Nos. 55, 62, 
74) 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 430-433 (Popular ed., 
289-292); Fournier, Napoleon, 477-482; Lanfrey, Napoleon, IV, 
213-224 ; Sloane, Napoleon, III, 182-186 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, 
Eistoire Generale, IX, 176-177. 

Map. Schrader, Atlas de Geographie Eistorique, 48. 

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 



TREATY OF VIENNA 43 1 

Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the 
Swiss Confederation;- and His Majesty the Emperor of Aus- 
tria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, equally prompted by 
the desire to put an end to the war that has been kindled be- 
tween them, have resolved to proceed without delay to the 
conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace, . . . 

I. There shall be, dating from the day of the exchange of 
the ratifications of the present Treaty, peace and amity be- 
tween His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and H[is Maj- 
esty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohe- 
mia, their heirs and successors, their respective States and 
subjects, forever. 

3. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary 
and of Bohemia, both for himself, his heirs and successors, 
and for the Princes of His House, their respective heirs and 
successors, renounces the principalities, lordships, domains 
and territories hereinafter designated, as well as every title 
whatsoever which may be derived from their possession, and 
the properties, whether domanial or possessed by them under 
personal title, which these countries include. 

1st. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the Emperor 
of the French, in order to make part of the Confederation of 
the Rhine and to be disposed of in favor of the Sovereigns 
of the Confederation : the countries of Salzburg and Berecht- 
esgaden, the portion of Upper Austria situated beyond a line 
setting out from the Danube near the village of Strass and 
taking in Weissenkirchen, Wiedersdorf, Michelbach, Greist, 
Muckenhoffen, Helft, Jeding, from there the road to Schwan- 
enstadt, the city of Schwanenstadt upon the Kammer, and in 
continuation reascending the course of that river and of the 
lake of that name to the point at which that lake touches 
the frontier of the country of Salzburg. . 

2d. He likewise cedes to His Majesty the Emperor of the 
French, King of Italy, the County of Gorz, the territory of 
Montefalcone, the Government of the city of Trieste, Camiola 
with its enclaves upon the Gulf of Trieste, the circle of Vilach 
in Carinthia, and all the countries situated to the right of the 



432 



TREATY OF VIENNA 



Save, in setting out from the point at which that river leaves 
Carniola and following it to the f rontior of Bosnia, to wit : 
part of provincial Croatia, six districts of military Croatia, 
Finme and the Hungarian littoral, the Austrian Istria or dis- 
trict of Klisten, the dependent islands of these ceded countries 
and all the other countries under whatsoever denomination 
upon the right bank of the Save, the Thalweg of that river 
serving as boundary between the two States ; lastly, the lord- 
ship of Razuns, enclave within the country of the Grisons._ 

3d. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the King of 
Saxony the enclaves dependent upon Bohemia and included 
within the territory of the Kingdom of Saxony, to wit: . . . 

4th. He cedes and abandons to His Majesty the King of 
Saxony, in order to be united to the Duchy of Warsaw, all 
eastern «r new Galicia, a district about Cracow upon the 
right bank of the Vistula, which shall be determined here- 
after, and the circle of Zamoste in eastern Galicia. 



5th. He cedes and abandons to His .Majesty the Em- 
peror of Russia, in the most eastern part of former Galicia,. 
a territory comprising four hundred thousand souls of pop- 
ulation, in which the city of Brody shall be included. This 
territory shall be determined by agreement between commis- 
sioners of the two Empires. 



14. His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, guarantees the 
integrity of the possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of 
Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, in the state in 
which they are according to the present treaty. 

16. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria recognizes all 
the changes which have occurred or which may occur in 
Spain, in Portugal, and in Italy. 

16. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, wishing to con- 
tribute to the return of maritime peace, adheres to the pro- 
hibitive system adopted by France and Russia in opposition 
to England for the present maritime war. His Imperial Maj- 
esty will cause all relations with Great Britain to cease and 



PRINTING AND BOOKSELLING LAW 433 

will put himself, as regards the English Government, in the 
position in which he was before the present war. 

Separate Articles. 

1. In virtue of the authorisation given by His Majesty 
the Emperor of Russia, the treaty of peace of this day is. 
declared to be common to Russia, the Ally of France. 

2. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, m consequence 
of the diminution of his possessions and being anxious to 
remove everything which might give birth to uneasiness and 
distrust between the two States, as well as to manifest his 
political intentions, binds himself to reduce the rolls of his 
troops in such a manner that the total number of the troops 
of all arms and of every sort shall not rise above 150,000 men 
during the continuance of the maritime war. 

5. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary 
3,nd of Bohemia, shall discharge in coin that which remains 
to be paid of the two hundred millions of contributions im- 
posed upon the different States occupied by the French armies,, 
whether in bank notes or in metallic value. In order to fa- 
cilitate the payment of this sum, His Majesty the Emperor 
of the French consents to reduce it to 85,000,000 francs. . . . 



86. Decree upon Printing and Bookselling. 

February 5, 1810. Duvergier, Lois, XVII, 19-23. 

This la.w is a sort of organic act upon the press. It co-ordi- 
nates and consolidates a number of earlier measures in restraint 
of freedom of printing. The system delineated in the document 
had existed, substantially as here shown, from about 1804. 

References. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern. 
France, 46-48; Lanfrey, Napoleon, IV, 316-326. 



TITLE I. OF THE DIRECTORSHIP OF PRINTING AND BOOKSELLING. 

I. There shall be a director general charged, under the 
orders of our minister of the interior, with everything that is 
related to printing and bookselling. 



434 PRINTING AND BOOKSELLING l^AW 

TITLE 11. OF THE OCCUPATION OF PRINTER. 

3. Dating from January i, 181 1, the number of printers 
in each department shall be fixed, and that of the printers 
at Paris shall be reduced by a sixth. 

5. The printers shall be commissioned and sworn. 

6. At Paris they shall be required to have four presses, 
in the departments two. 

- 9. The commission of printer shall be given by our director 
general of printing, and shall be subject to the approval of our 
minister of the interior; it shall be registered at the civil tri- 
bunal of the place of residence of the grantee, who shall there 
take oath not to print anything which is contrary to the duties 
towards the sovereign and the interest of the State. 

TITLE III. OF THE POLICE FOR PRINTING. 

Section I. Of the guarantee for the administration. 

TO. Printing or causing to be printed anything which can 
involve injury to the duties of subjects towards the sovereign 
or the interests of the State is forbidden. ... 

11. Each printer shall be required to have a book num- 
bered and lettered by the prefect of the department, in which 
he shall register, by order of dates, the title of each work 
which he shall wish to print, and the name of the author, 
if it is known. This book shall be presented at every requi- 
sition, and examined and endorsed, if it is thought desirable, 
by any officer of police. 

12. The printer shall immediately deliver or address to 
the director general of printing and bookselling, and in ad- 
dition to the prefects, a copy of the transcript made upon his 
book ; and the declaration that he has an intention of printing 
the work: he shall be given a receipt therefor. 

The prefects shall give information of each of these dec- 
larations to our minister of the general police. 

13. The director general can order, if it seems good to 
him, the communication and examination of the work, and 
can suspend the printing. 

14. When the director general shall have suspended the 
printing of a work, he shall send it to a censor chosen from 



PRINTING AND BOOKSELLING LAW 435 

among those whom we, upon the advice of the director general 
and the proposal of our minister of the interior, shall have ap- 
pointed to discharge that function. 

15. Our minister of the general police, and the prefects in 
their departments, shall cause to be suspended the printing 
of all works which shall appear to them to be in contraven- 
tion to article 10: in that case, the manuscript shall be sent 
within twenty-four hours to the director general, as is said 
above. 

16. Upon the report of the censor, the director general 
shall indicate to the author the changes or suppressions deemed 
appropriate, and, upon his refusal to make them, shall forbid 
the sale of the work, shall cause the forms to be broken, and 
shall seize the sheets or copies already printed. 

TITLE IV. OF BOOKSELLERS. 

29. Dating from January i, 181 1, booksellers shall be 
commissioned and sworn. 

30. The commissions for booksellers shall be given by our 
director general of printing, and shall be subject to the ap- 
proval of our minister of the interior : they shall be registered 
at the civil tribunal of the place of residence of the grantee, 
who shall there take oath not to sell, circulate or distribute 
any work contrary to the duties towards the sovereign and the 
interest of the State. 

S3. For the future, warrants shall not be granted to book- 
sellers who shall wish to establish themselves, except after 
they shall have furnished proof of their good life and morals 
and of their attachment to the fatherland and the sovereign. 

TITLE V. OF BOOKS PRINTED ABROAD. 

34. No book in the French or Latin languages printed 
abroad can enter France without paying an import duty. 

35. This duty shall not be less than fifty per cent of the 
value of the work. 

S6. Independently of the provisions of article 34, no book 
printed or reprinted outside of France can be introduced into 
France without a permit from the director general of book- 
selling designating the custom house at which it shall enter. 



436 I'HE FRANKFORT DECLARATION 

87. The Frankfort Declaration. 

December 1, 1813. British and Foreign State Papers, I, 911. 

This m3.nifesto of the Allied Powers was issued just as their 
armies were about to enter France. Its purpose as shown by 
various expressions in the document should be noticed. Its phras- 
eology upon such points as the future of France and its boundaries 
also requires attention. The latter may be compared with that of 
the first draft as quoted by Fournier. 

Refekexces. Fournier, Napoleon, 648-650 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 346-347 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gcnerale, IX, 848-849. 

The French Government has just ordered a new levy of 
300,000 conscripts. The reasons of the senatus-consultum con- 
tain a provocation to the AlHed Powers. They find themselves 
again called upon to promulgate in the face of the world the 
views which govern them in the present war, the principles 
which constitute the basis of their conduct, their views and 
their determinations. 

The Allied Powers are not at war with France, but with 
that haughtily announced preponderance, that preponderance 
which, to the misfortune of Europe and of France, the Em- 
peror Napoleon has for too long a time exercised outside of 
the boundaries of his Empire. 

Victory has led the Allied Armies to the Rhine. The first 
use which their Imperial and Royal Majesties have made of 
victory has been to offer peace to His Majesty the Emperor 
of the French. An attitude reinforced by the accession of all 
the Sovereigns and Princes of Germany has not had any 
influence upon the conditions of peace. These conditions are 
founded upon the independence of the French Empire, as 
well as upon the independence of the other States of Europe, 
The views of the Powers are just in their object, generous and 
liberal in their application, reassuring for all, and honorable 
for each. 

The Allied Sovereigns desire that France should be great, 
strong and happy, because the great and strong French Power 
is one of the fundamental bases of the social edifice. They 
desire that France should be happy, that French commerce 
should rise again, and that the arts, those blessings of peace, 
should flourish again, because a great people cannot be tran- 



CORPS-LEGISLATIF ADDRESS 437 

quil except in as far as it is happy. The Powers confirm to 
the French Empire an extent of territory which France never 
knew under its Kings, because a valiant nation should not lose 
rank for having in its turn experienced reverses in an obstinate 
and bloody conflict, in which it has fought with its usual 
daring. 

But the Powers also wish to be free, happy and tranquil. 
They desire a state of peace which, by a wise distribution of 
power and a just equilibrium, may preserve henceforth their 
peoples from the innumerable calamities which for the past 
twenty years have weighed upon Europe. 

The AlHed Powers will not lay aside their arms without 
having attained that great and beneficent result, that noble 
object of their efforts. They will not lay aside their arms 
until the political condition of Europe shall be again consol- 
idated, until immutable principles shall have resumed their 
rights over vain pretensions, until the sanctity of treaties 
shall have finally assured a real peace for Europe. 

Frankfort, December i, 1813. 



88. Address of the Corps-Legislatif to Napoleon. 

December 28, 1813. Buchez and Roux, Histoire Parlementaire, 
XXXIX, 456-458. 

This address was drawn up after Napoleon had submitted to 
the Corps-Legislatif a portion of his correspondence with the Al- 
lies. Napoleon forbade its publication and as a sign of his dis- 
pleasure dissolved the chamber. The document throws some light 
upon the state of France, its attitude towards Napoleon and the 
war. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 650-652 ; Sloane, Napoleon, 
IV, 85-86 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 347-348 ; I^avisse and Rambaud, 
Histoire Generals, IX, 849-853. 

We have examined with a scrupulous attention the official 
documents which the Emperor has deigned to place before our 
eyes. We consider ourselves then as the representatives of the 
nation itself, speaking with open hearts to a father who hears 
us with benevolence. Filled with that sentiment so adapted 
to the elevation of our souls and to disengaging us from every 
personal consideration, we have dared to bring the truth to the 



438 CORPS-LEGISLATIF ADDEESS 

foot of the throne ; our august sovereign could not suffer any 
other language. 



[The omitted passage reviews the course of events from the 
outbreak of the war with Russia to the end of the campaign 
of 1813.] 

Here, gentlemen, we must avow it, the enemy carried along 
by victory to the banks of the Rhine has offered to our august 
monarch a peace which a hero accustomed to so much suc- 
cess must have found strange indeed. But if a manly and 
heroic sentiment dictated to him a refusal before the deplor- 
able state of France had been ascertained, that refusal cannot 
be reiterated without imprudence w^hen the enemy is already 
breaking the frontiers of our territor}^ If the matter here in 
question had been the discussion of disgraceful conditions, 
His Majesty would have deigned to reply only by making 
known to his people the projects of the foreigners ; there is 
no wish, however, to humiliate us, but to confine us within 
our limits and to repress the soaring of an ambitious activity 
so fatal for twenty years past to all the peoples of Europe. 

Such proposals seem to us honorable for the nation, since 
they prove that the foreigner fears and respects us. It is 
not he who sets limits to our power, it is the terrified world 
which invokes the common right of nations. The Pyrenees, 
the Alps and the Rhine enclose a vast territory of which sev- 
eral provinces were not held by the Empire of the Lilies, and 
yet the royal crown of France was radiant with glory and 
majesty among all the diadems. 

Furthermore, the Protectorate of the Rhine ceases to be 
a title of honor for a crown, from the moment when the peo- 
ples of that confederation disdain that protection. 

It is obvious that here there is no question of a right of 
conquest, but of a title of alliance useful only to the Germans. 
A powerful hand was assuring them of its assistance ; they 
wish to slip away from that benefaction as from an insup- 
portable burden ; it is consistent with the dignity of His 
Majesty to abandon to themselves those peoples who are 
hastening to range themselves under the 3'oke of Austria. As 
for Brabant, since the allies propose to adhere to the bases 



CORPS-LEGISLATIF ADDRESS 439 

of the treaty of Luneville, it seems to us that France could 
sacrifice without loss provinces difficult to retain, in which the 
English spirit dominates almost exclusively, and for which, 
finally, commerce with England is a necessity so indispen- 
sable that these districts have been languishing and impover- 
ished as long as our domination has lasted. Have we not- 
seen patrician families exiling themselves from Dutch soil, 
as if devastating scourges had pursued them, and taking to 
the enemy the wealth and industry of their fatherland? Doubt- 
less it does not take courage to make the heart of our sov- 
ereign hear the truth ; but we should be bound to expose 
ourselves to all perils, we should prefer to incur disgrace from 
him rather than to betray his confidence, and to expose our 
lives rather than the safety of the nation which we represent. 
Let us not dissemble: our ills are at their height; the father- 
land is threatened at all points upon its frontiers ; commerce is 
annihilated, agriculture languishes, industry is expiring; and 
there is not a Frenchman who has not in his family or his 
fortune a cruel wound to heal. Let us not be weighed down 
by these facts ; the agriculturalist has not prospered for five 
years past ; he barely lives, and the fruits of his labors serve 
to augment the treasure which is annually exhausted in the 
supplies which the constantly ruined and famished armies de- 
mand. The conscription has become for all France an odious 
scourge, because that measure has always been overdone in 
execution. For the past two years the gathering in has oc- 
curred three times per year; a barbarous and aimless war 
has swallowed up youths torn away from education, agricul- 
ture, comme-rce and the arts. Are the tears of mothers and 
the pains of the people then the patrimony of kings? It is 
time that the nations should be in xepose ; it is time that the 
Powers should cease clashing snd tearing each others' entrails ; 
it is time that the thrones should be strengthened and that 
France should cease to be reproached with wishing to carry 
into all the world revolutionary torches. Our august mon- 
arch, who shares the zeal that animates us and who is burning 
to consolidate the welfare of his peoples, is the only one capa- 
ble of performing that great work. Love of military honor 
and of conquests can seduce a magnanimous heart; but the 
genius of a true hero, who spurns a glory achieved at the ex- 



440 



TREATY OF CHAUMONT 



pense of the blood and repose of the people, finds his true 
grandeur in the public felicity which is his work. French 
monarchs have always gloried in holding their crown from 
God, the people and their sword, because peace, morality and 
power are, with liberty, the firmest support of empires. 



89. Treaty of Chaumont. 

March 1, 1814. De Clercq, Traites, II, 395-399. Translation, 
Herstlet, Map of Europe 'by Treaty, 2043-2048. 

This treaty in terms includes only Austria and Russia, but 
Great Britain and Prussia were included in similar treaties formed 
at the same time. Although dated March 1 the treaty was not 
actually signed until March 9. The terms alluded to in article 
1 were those offered to Napoleon at the Congress of Chatilion. As 
the most comprehensive and typical of the series of treaties which 
created ^nd controlled the alliance against France the terms of 
this document should be carefully noted. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 665-666 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 370-371. 



His Imperial Majesty and Royal Highness the Emperor of 
Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, His Majesty the 
Emperor of all the Russias, His Majesty the King of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, His Maj- 
esty the King of Prussia, having forwarded to the French 
Government proposals for the conclusion of a general 
peace, and desiring, in case France should refuse the conditions 
of that peace, to draw closer the bonds which unite them for 
the vigorous prosecution of a war undertaken with the sal- 
utary purpose of putting an end to the misfortunes of Europe 
by assuring future repose through the re-establishment of a 
just equilibrium of the Powers, and wishing at the same time, 
if Providence blesses their pacific intentions, to settle the 
methods of maintaining against every attack the order of 
things which shall have been the happy result of their efforts, 
have agreed to sanction by a solemn Treaty, signed separately 
by each of the four Powers with the other three, this double 
engagement. 



TREATY OP CHAUMONT 



441 



1. The High Contracting Parties above named solemnly 
engage by the present Treaty, and in the event of France re- 
fusing to accede to th? Conditions of Peace now proposed, to 
apply all the means of their respective States to the vigorous 
prosecution of the War against that Power, and to employ 
them in perfect concert, in order to obtain for themselves and 
for Europe a General Peace, under the Protection of which 
the Rights and Liberties of all Nations may be established and 
secured. 

This engagement shall in no respect affect the Stipulations 
which the several Powers have already contracted relative 
to the number of Troops to be kept against the Enemy; and 
it is understood that the Courts of England, Austria, Russia, 
and Prussia engage by the present Treaty to keep in the field, 
each of them, 150,000 effective men, exclusive of garrisons, to 
be employed in active service against the common Enemy. 

2. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally engage not 
to treat separately with the common Enemy, nor to sign Peace, 
Truce, nor Convention, but with common consent. They, more- 
over, engage not to lay down their Arms until the object of 
the War, mutually understood and agreed upon, shall have 
been attained. 

3. In order to contribute in the most prompt and decisive 
manner to fulfill this great object, His Britannic Majesty en- 
gages to furnish a Subsidy of £5,000,000 for the service of the 
year 1814, to be divided in equal proportions amongst the 
three Powers; and His said Majesty promises, moreover, to ar- 
range before the ist of January in each year, with their impe- 
rial and Royal Majesties, the further succours to be furnished 
during the subsequent year, if (which God forbid) the War 
should so long continue. 

5. The High Contracting Parties, reserving to themselves 
to concert together, on the conclusion of a peace with France, 
as to the means best adapted to guarantee to Europe, and to 
themselves reciprocally, the continuance of the Peace, have 
also determined to enter, without delay, into defensive en- 
gagements for the Protection of their respective States in 
Europe against every attempt which France might make to 
infringe the order of things resulting from such Pacification. 



442 TREATY OF CHAUMONT 

6. To effect this, they agree that in the event of one of 
the High Contracting Parties being threatened with an Attack 
on the part of France, the others shall employ their most 
strenuous efforts to prevent it, by friendly interposition. 

7. In case of these endeavours proving ineffectual, the High 
Contracting Parties promise to come to the immediate assist- 
ance of the Power attacked, each with a body of 60,000 men. 

9. As the situation of the Seat of War, or other circum- 
stances, might render it difficult for Great Britain to furnish 
the stipulated succours in English troops within the term pre- 
scribed, and to maintain the same on a War establishment. His 
Britannic Majesty reserves the right of furnishing his con- 
tingent to the requiring Power in Foreign Troops in his pay, 
or to pay annually to that Power a sum of money, at the rate 
of i20 per man for infantry, and of £30 for cavalry, until the 
stipulated succour shall be complete. 

13. The High Contracting Parties mutually promise, that 
in case they shall be reciprocally engaged in hostilities, in con- 
sequence of furnishing the stipulated Succours, the party re- 
quiring and the parties called upon, and acting as Auxiliaries in 
the War, shall not make Peace but by common consent. 

15. In order to render more effectual the Defensive En- 
gagements above stipulated, by uniting for their common de- 
fence the Powers the most exposed to a French invasion, the 
High Contracting Parties engage to invite those Powers to 
accede to the present Treaty of Defensive Alliance. 

16. The present Treaty of Defensive Alliance having for its 
object to maintain the equilibrium of Europe, to secure the 
repose and Independence of its States, and to prevent the 
Invasions which during so many years have desolated the 
World, the High Contracting Parties have agreed to extend 
the duration of it to 20 years, to take date from the day of its 
signature; and they reserve to themselves to concert upon 
its ultierior prolongation three years before its expiration, 
should circumstances require it. 



TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCHY 



443 



>/ 



90. Documents upon the Transition to the Restoration 
Monarchy. 

As a group these documents show how the government of 
Prance passed from Napoleon to Louis XVIII. Taken separately 
several of them are of additional interest. Document A should y^ 
be compared with No. 87. The indictment of the Napoleonic 
regime drawn in document C deserves careful attention. Docu- 
ments D and F should be compared. The character of the system 
of government which the Senate in document E proposed to es- 
tablish should be compared with that actually established by No. 
93. 

Refbeences. Fournier, Napoleon, 672-678 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 389-398 ; Seignobos, Europe Since 181^, 104-105 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Histoire Gencrale, IX, 881-888. 

A. Proclamation of the Allies. March 31, 1814. De Clercq, 
Traites, II, 400-401. 

The armies of the Allied Pov^ers have occupied the Capital 
of France. The Allied Sovereigns honor the wish of the 
French nation ; they declare : 

That if the conditions of peace should include some strong- 
er guarantees when dealing with the enchaining of the am- 
bition of Bonaparte, they must be more favorable when, by 
a return to a wise government, France itself shall offer assur- 
ance of repose. The Sovereigns proclaim in consequence : 

That they will no longer treat with Napoleon Bonaparte, 
nor with any member of his family. 

That they respect the integrity of ancient France, as it was 
under its legitimate Kings ; they can even do more, because 
they will always respect the principle, that for the welfare 
of Europe it is necessary that France should be great and 
strong. 

They will recognize and guarantee the Constitution which 
the French nation shall give itself. In consequence, they in- 
vite the Senate to designate immediately a Provisional Gov- 
ernment which can look after the needs of the administration 
and prepare the Constitution which shall be appropriate for the 
French People. 

The intentions which I have just expressed are common to 
all the Allied Powers. Alexander. 

Paris, March 31, 1814. 



444 



TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCHY 



y 



B. Act of the Senate. April i, 1814. Duvergier, Lois, 
XIX, 1-2. 

The Senate resolves : 

1. That there shall be established a provisional govern- 
ment charged to look after the needs of the administration 
and to present to the Senate a project for a constitution which 
may be suitable for the French people ; 

2. That this government shall be composed of five members. 

C. Decree for Deposing Napoleon. April 3-4, 1814. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XIX, 3-4. 

The Conservative Senate, 

Considering that, in a constitutional monarchy, the monarch 
exists only in virtue of the constitution or of the social com- 
pact : 

That Napoleon Bonaparte, during a short time of firm and 
prudent government, gave to the nation grounds for 
counting upon acts of wisdom and justice in the future; but 
that afterwards he broke the compact which united him with 
the French people, especially in raising imposts and in estab- 
lishing taxes otherwise than in virtue of the law, contrary 
to the express tenor of the oath which' he had taken at his 
accession to the throne, in conformity with article 53 of the 
constitutions of 28 Floreal, Year XII ;' 

That he has committed this attack upon the rights of the 
people also when he proceeded to adjourn the Corps-Legislatif 
without necessity, and caused to be suppressed as criminal 
a report of that bod}^, in which his title and his part in the 
national representation were contested ; 

That he has undertaken a series of wars in violation of 
article 50 of the act of the constitutions of 22 Frimaire, Year 
VIII, which provides that a declaration of war should be 
proposed, discussed, decreed and promulgated as are the laws ; 

That he has unconstitutionally rendered .several decrees 
involving the death penalty, especially the two of March 5th 
last, the tendency of which was to cause to be considered as 
national a war which had occurred only in the interest of his 
unmeasured ambition ; 



TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCflY 445 

That he has violated the constitutional laws by his decrees 
upon the State prisons; 

That he has destroyed the responsibility of the ministers, 
confounded all the powers, and destroyed the independence of 
the judicial bodies ; 

Considering that the liberty of the press, established and con- 
secrated as one of the rights of the nation, has been constantly 
subjected to the arbitrary censorship of his police, and that 
at the same time he has always made use of the press in order 
to fill France and Europe with imaginary facts, false maxims, 
doctrines favorable to despotism, and outrages against foreign 
governments ; 

That the acts and reports agreed to by the Senate have sus- 
tained alterations in the publication which has been made of 
them; 

Considering that instead of reigning with a sole view to the 
interest, welfare and glory of the French people, according to* 
the terms of his oath, Napoleon has put the capstone to the 
misfortunes of the fatherland by his refusal to treat for con- 
ditions which the national interest would oblige him to accept 
and w^hich did not compromise French honor; 

By the abuse which he has made of all the means in men 
and money which have been confided to him; 

By the abandonment of the wounded without the dressing 
of their wounds, without relief, and without food ; 

By different measures of which the results were the ruin 
of the cities, the depopulation of the country, famine and con- 
tagious diseases ; 

Considering that by all these causes the Imperial Govern- 
ment, established by the senatus-consultum of 28 Floreal, Year 
XII, has ceased to exist, and that the express wish of all 
Frenchmen calls for an order of things of which the first result 
may be the re-establishment of the general peace, and which 
may be also the epoch of a solemn reconciliation among all the 
States of the great European family; 

The Senate declares and decrees as follows : 

1. Napoleon Bonaparte has forfeited the throne, and the 
right of inheritance established in his family is abolished. 

2. The French people and army are absolved from the oath 
of fidelity to Napoleon Bonaparte. 



446 TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCHY 

3. The present decree shall be transmitted by a message 
to the provisional government of France, sent at once to all 
the departments and to the armies, and proclaimed immediate- 
ly in all the quarters of the capital. 

D. First Abdication of Napoleon. April 4, 1814. Helie, 
Constitutions, 878. 

\ The allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Na- 
poleon was the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of" peace 
in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares 
that he is ready to descend from the throne, to leave France 
and even to lay down his life for the welfare of the fatherland, 
which cannot be separated from the rights of his son, those of 
the regency of the Empress, and the laws of the Empire. 
Done at our palace of Fontainebleau, April 4, 1814. 

Napoleon. 

, E. The Senate's Proposed Constitution. April 6, 1814. 
Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 6-8. 

The Conservative Senate, deliberating upon the project of 
a constitution which has been presented to it by the Provisional 
Government, m execution of the act of the Senate of the ist of 
this month. 

After having heard the report of a special commission of 
seven members, 

Decrees as follows : 

1. The French Government is monarchical and hereditary 
from male to male, by order of primogeniture. 

2. The French people freely summon to the throne of 
France Louis-Stanislas-Xavier of France, brother of the late 
king, and, after him, the other members of the House of Bour- 
bon in the old order. 

3. The old nobility resume their titles : the new retain theirs 
hereditarily. The Legion of Honor is maintained with its pre- 
rogatives ; the King shall determine the decoration. 

4. The executive power belongs to the King. 

5. The King, the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif co-oper- 
ate in the formation of the laws. 



. TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCHY 447 

Projects of law can be proposed both in the Senate and in 
the Corps-Legislatif. 

Those relative to taxes can be proposed only in the Corps- 
Legislatif. 

The King can likewise invite the two bodies to occupy 
themselves with matters which he deems in need of consider- 
ation. 

The sanction of the King is necessary for the completion of 
the law. 

6. There are at least one hundred and fifty senators and 
two hundred at most. 

Their rank is irremovable and hereditary from male to male, 
by order of primogeniture. They are appointed by the King. 
The present senators, with the exception of those who may 
renounce the attribute of French citizenship, are retained and 
make part of that number The present endowment of the Sen- 
ate and of the senatorships belongs to them. The revenues 
thereof are likewise divided among them and pass to their suc- 
cessors. In case of the death of a senator without direct male 
posterity, his portion returns to the Public Treasury. The 
senators who shall be appointed in the future cannot have part 
in this endowment. 

7. The princes of the royal family and the princes of the 
blood are by right members of the Senate. 

They cannot exercise the functions of a senator until after 
they have reached the age of majority. 

8. The Senate determines the cases in which the discus- 
sion of the matters that it treats shall be public or secret. 

9. Each department shall select the same number of depu- 
ties to the Corps-Legislatif which it was sending there. 

The deputies who were sitting in the Corps-Legislatif at the 
time of its last adjournment shall continue to sit there until 
their replacement. All shall retain their stipend. 

For the future they shall be directly chosen by the electoral 
colleges, which are retained, subject to the changes which may 
be made by a law upon their organization. 

The duration of the functions of the deputies of the Corps- 
Legislatif is fixed at five years. 

New elections shall take place for the session of 1816. 

10. The Corps-Legislatif assembles of right October ist 



448 TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCHY, 

of each year. The King can convoke it extraordinarily. He 
can adjourn it ; he can also dissolve it : but in this last case, 
another Corps-Legislatif must be formed, within three months 
-at the latest, by the electoral colleges. 

11. The Corps-Legislatif has the right of discussion. The 
sittings are public, except in the case in which it thinks that it 
is expedient to form itself into committee of the whole. 

12. The Senate, the Corps-Legislatif, the electoral colleges, 
and the cantonal assemblies, elect their presidents from -within 
their own midst. 

13. No member of the Senate or of the Corps-Legislatif 
can be arrested without a prior authorisation of the body to 
which he belongs. 

The trial of an accused member of the Senate or of the 
CoTps-Legislatif belongs exclusively to the Senate. 

14. The ministers can be members either of the Senate or 
of the Corps-Legislatif. 

15. Equality of proportion in taxation is a matter of right. 
No tax can be established or collected, unless it has been freely 
consented to by the Corps-Legislatif and the Senate. The land 
tax can be established only for one year. The budget of the 
following year and the accounts of the preceding j^ear are pre- 
sented each year to the Corps-Legislatif and the Senate at the 
opening of the session of the Corgs-Legislatif. 

16. The law shall determine the mode and the quota of the 
recruiting for the army. 

17. The independence of the judicial authority is guaran- 
teed. Nobody can be deprived of his natural judges. 

The jury system is retained, as well as publicity of proceed- 
ings in criminal matters. 

The penalty of confiscation of goods is abolished. 
The King has the right to grant pardons. 

18. The ordinary courts and tribunals actually in exist- 
ence are retained; their number cannot be increased nor di- 
minished except in virtue of a law. The judges are for life 
and are irremovable, with the exception of the justices of the 
peace and the commercial judges. The extraordinary commis- 
sions and tribunals are suppressed, and they cannot be re- 
established. 

19. The Court of Cassation, the courts of appeal and the 



TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCHY 



449 



tribunals of first instance propose to the King three candidates 
for each position as judge which is vacant in their body; the 
King chooses one of the three. The King appoints the first 
presidents and the pubhc minister of the courts and tribunals. 

20. Military men in active service, officers and soldiers in 
retirement, pensioned widows and officers, preserve their ranks, 
their honors and their pensions. 

21. The person of the King is inviolable and sacred. All 
the acts of the Government are signed by a minister. The 
ministers are responsible for ever^^thing which these acts may 
contain which is injurious to the laws, to public and private 
liberty, and to the rights of citizens. 

22. Liberty of worship and of conscience is guaranteed. 
The ministers of the sects are equally paid ana protected. 

23. The liberty of the press is complete, saving the legal 
repression of offences which might result from the abuse of 
that liberty. The senatorial commissions of liberty of the press 
and of personal liberty are retained. 

24. The public debt is guaranteed. 

The .sales of the national lands are irrevocably maintained. 

25. No Frenchman can be questioned for the opinions or 
votes which he may have given. 

26. Any person has the right to address individual pe- 
titions to any constituted authority. 

27. All Frenchmen are equally eligible to all civil and mil- 
itary employments. 

28. All actually existing laws remain in force until they 
may be legally altered. The Code of civil laws shall be en- 
titled Civil Code of the French. 

29. The present constitution shall be submitted for the 
acceptance of the French people in the form which shall be reg- 
ulated. Louis-Stanislas-Xavier shall be proclaimed King of 
the French, as soon as he shall have sworn and signed by an 
act declaring: / accept the constitution; I szvear to observe it 
and to cause it to he observed. This oath shall be reiterated 
in the solemn ceremony by which he shall receive the oath 
of fidelity of the French. 

F. Second Abdication of Napoleon. April 11, 1814. De 
Clercq, Traites, II, 402. 

The Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor 
15 



450 TRANSITION TO RESTORATION MONARCIiy 

Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of 
peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, 
declares that he renounces, for himself, and for his heirs, the 
thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sac- 
rifice, even that of life, which he would not be ready to make 
in the interest of France. 

Done at the palace of Fontainebleau, April ii, 1814. 

Napoleon. 

G. Treaty of Fontainebleau. April 11, 1814. De Glercq, 
Traites, II, 402-405. 

His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon of the one part, and 
their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia 
and the Emperor of all the Russias, stipulating both in their 
names and in those of their allies, ... 

1. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon renounces for him- 
self, his successors and descendants, as well as for all the 
members of his family, all right of sovereignty and dominion, 
as well to the French Empire and the Kingdom of Italy as to 
everj^ other country. 

2. Their Majesties the Emperor Napoleon and the Em- 
press Maria Louisa shall retain their ,titles and ranks, to be 
enjoyed during their lives. The mother, brothers, sisters, 
nephews and nieces of the Emperor shall retain, wherever 
they may be, the title of Princes of his family. 

3. The island of Elba, adopted by His Majesty the Em- 
peror Napoleon as the place of his residence, shall form, during 
hiis life, a separate Principality, which shall be possessed by 
him in full sovereignty and ownership. There shall be given 
besides, in full property, to the Emperor Napoleon, an annual 
revenue of 2,000,000 francs in rent charges upon the ledger of 
France, of which 1,000,000 shall be in reversion to the Empress. 

5. The Duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla shall 
be given in full ownership and sovereignty to Her Majesty 
the Empress Maria Louisa. They shall pass to her son and to 
his descendants in the direct line. The Prince, her son, shall 
take from this moment the title of Prince of Parma, Piacenza 
and Guastalla. 



TREATY OF PARIS 451 

6. There shall be reserved in the countries which the Em- 
peror Napoleon renounces for himself and his family domains 
or dower of rents upon the ledger of France producing a net 
annual income, after deduction of all charges is made, of 
2,500,000 francs. These domains or rents shall belong in full 
ownership, and to be disposed of as shall seem good to them, 
to the Princes and Princesses of his family and shall be ap- 
portioned among them in such a manner that the income of 
each may be in the following proportion : 



91. Treaty of Paris. 

May 30, 1814. Herstlet, Map of Europe Tjy Treaty, 1-19. 

Two features of this treaty call for particular notice. (1) The" 
territorial limits of France should be compared with those ex- 
isting prior to 1789, those of various subsequent dates such as 
1795 and 1810, and those which on different occasions during 1813 
and 1814 were offered to Napoleon. (2) The stipulations relative 
to the congress which subsequently met at Vienna may be com- 
pared with those in No. 73 and the arrangements effected by the 
Congress of Vienna. The negative features of the treaty may be 
profitably noticed. 

References. Andrews, Modern Europe, I, 89-90 ; Fyffe, Mod- 
ern Europe, I, 536-541 (Popular ed., 360-364) ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 401 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, X, 1-4. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. 

His Majesty, the King of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and his Allies on the one part, and His 
Majesty the King of France and Navarre on the other part, 
animiated by an equal desire to terminate the long agitations 
of Europe, and the sufferings of Mankind, by a permanent 
Peace, founded upon a just repartition of force between its 
States, and containing in its Stipulations the pledge of its 
durability, and Plis Britannic Majesty, together with his Allies, 
being unwilling to require of France, now that, replaced under 
the paternal Government of Her Kings, she offers the assur- 
ance of security and stability to Europe, the conditions and 
guarantees which they had with regret demanded from her 
former Government, Their said Majesties have named Plen- 



452 TREATY OF PARIS 

ipotentiaries to discuss, settle, and sign a Treaty of Peace 
and Amity; namely, 

1. There shall be from this day forward perpetual Peace 
2nd Friendship between His Britannic Majesty and his Allies 
on the one part, and His Majesty the King of France and Na- 
varre on the other, their Heirs and Successors, their Domin- 
ions and Subjects, respectively. 

The High Contracting Parties shall devote their best at- 
tention to maintain, not only between themselves, but, inas- 
much as depends upon them, between all the States of Europe, 
that harmony and good understanding which are so necessary 
for their tranquility. 

2. The Kingdom of France retains its limits entire, as they 
existed on the ist of January, 1792. It shall further receive the 
increase of Territory comprised within the line established by 
the following Article : 

3. On the side of Belgium, Germany, and Italy, the Ancient 
Frontiers shall be re-established as they existed on the ist 01 
January, 1792, extending from the North Sea, between Dun- 
kirk and Nieuport to the Mediterranean between Cagnes and 
Nice, with the following modifications : 

[This line is shown by maps in Herstlet, Map of Europe 
hy Treaty, 28-29.] 

France on her part renounces all rights of Sovereignty, Sii- 
zcrainty, etc., and of possession, over all the Countries, Dis- 
tricts, Towns, and places situated beyond the Frontier above 
described, the Principality of Monaco being replaced on the 
same footing on which it stood before the ist of January, 1792. 

The Allied Powers assure to France the possession of the 
Principality of Avignon, of the Comitat Venaissin, of the 
Comte of Montbeliard, together with the several insulated 
Territories which formerly belonged to Germany, compre- 
hended within the Frontier above described, whether they have 
been incorporated with France before or after the ist of 
January, 1792. 

5. The Navigation of the Rhine, from the point where it 



TREATY OF PARIS 



453 



becomes navigable unto the sea, and vice versa, shall be free, 
so that it can be interdicted to no one : — and at the future 
Congress attention shall be paid to the establishment of the 
principles according to which the duties to be raised by the 
States bordering on the Rhine may be regulated, in the mode 
the most impartial and the most favourable to the commerce of 
all Nations. 

The future Congress, wth a view to facilitate the com- 
munication between Nations and continually to render them 
less strangers to each other, shall likewise examine and deter- 
mine in what manner the above provisions can be extended to 
other Rivers which, m their navigable course, separate or 
traverse different States. 

6. Holland, placed under the sovereignty of the House of 
Orange, shall receive an increase of Territory. The title and 
exercise of that Sovereignty shall not in any case belong to a 
Prince wearing, or destined to wear, a Foreign Crown. 

The States of Germany shall be independent, and united 
by a Federative Bond. 

Switzerland, Independent, shall continue to govern herself. 

Italy, beyond the limits of the countries which are to revert 
to Austria, shall be composed of Sovereign States. 

7. Ihe Island of Malta and its Dependencies shall belong 
in full right and Sovereignty to His Britannic Majesty. 

8. His Britannic Majesty, stipulating for himself and his 
Allies, engages to restore to His Most Christian Majesty, 
within the term which shall be hereafter fixed, the Colonies, 
Fisheries, Factories, and Establishments of every kind which 
were possessed by France on the ist of January, 1792, in the 
Seas and on the Continents of America, Africa, and Asia ; 
with the exception, however, of the Islands of Tohago and St. 
Lucia, and of the Isle of France and its Dependencies, especial- 
ly Rodrigues and Les Sechelles, which several Colonies and 
possessions His Most Christian Majesty cedes in full right and 
Sovereignty to His Britannic Majesty, and also the portion of 
St. Domingo ceded to France by the Treaty of Basle, and 
which His Most Christian Majesty restores in full right and 
Sovereignty to His Catholic Majesty. 



454 TREATY OF PARIS 

Additional, Separate, and Secret Articles. 

1. The disposal of the Territories given up by His Most 
Christian Majesty, under the 3d Article of the Public 
Treaty, and the relations from whence a system of real and 
permanent Balance of Power in Europe is to be derived, shall 
be regulated at the Congress upon the principles determined 
upon by the Allied Powers among themselves, and accord- 
ing to the general provisions contained in the following Arti 
cles. 

2. The possessions of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic 
Majesty in Italy, shall be bounded by the Po, the Tessino, 
and the Lago Maggiore. The King of Sardinia shall return to 
the possession of his ancient Dominions, with the exception 
of that part of Savoy secured to France by the 3d Article 
of the present Treaty. His Majestj^ shall receive an increase 
of Territory from the State of Genoa, 

The Port of Genoa shall continue to be a Free Port ; the 
Powers reserving to themselves the right of making arrange- 
ments upon this point with the King of Sardinia. 

France shall acknowledge and guarantee, conjointly with 
the Allied Powers, and on the same footing, the political or- 
ganization which Switzerland shall a^opt under the auspices 
of the said Allied Powers, and according to the basis already 
agreed upon with them. 

3. The estabhshment of a just Balance of Power in Europe 
requiring that Holland should be so constituted as to be 
enabled to support her independence through her own re- 
sources, the Countries comprised between the Sea, the Fron- 
tiers of France, such as they are defined by the present Treaty, 
and the Meuse, shall be given up forever to Holland. 

The Frontiers upon the right bank of the Meuse shall be 
regulated according to the military convenience of Holland, 
and her neighbours. 

The freedom of the Navigation of the Scheldt shall be 
established upon the same principle which has regulated the 
Navigation of the Rhine, in the 5th Article of the present 
Treaty. 

4. The German Territories upon the left bank of the Rhine, 
which have been united to France since 1792, shall contribute 



DECLARATION (°)F ST. OUEN 



455 



to the aggrandizement of Holland, and shall be further applied 
to compensate Prussia, and other German States. 



92. Declaration of St. Ouen. 

May 2, 1814. Duvergier. Lois, XIX, 23. 

The Count of Artois, acting for Louis XVIII, declined to ac- 
cept the constitution prepared by the Senate (No. 91 E). He was, 
however, prevailed upon to promise that he would accept "the 
basis" of it. This declaration was promulgated in redemption of 
that promise. It should be compared with both the Senate's con- 
stitution and the Constitutional Charter (No. 93). 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since ISllf, 106 ; Lavisse and 
E,ambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 890-891. 

Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and of Na- 
varre, to all those to whom these presents come, greeting. 

Recalled by the love of our people to the throne of our 
fathers, enlightened by the misfortunes of the nation, which 
we are destined to govern, our first thought is to invoke that 
mutual confidence so necessary to our repose and to its welfare. 

After having read attentively the plan for a constitution 
proposed by the Senate at its sitting of the 6th of April last, we 
have recognized that the principles thereof were good, but 
that a great number of articles bear the impress of the haste 
with which they were drawn up and they cannot in their 
present form become fundamental laws of the State. 

Resolved to adopt a liberal constitution, we wish that it 
should be wisely drawn up ; and not being able to accept one 
which it is necessary to amend, we convoke, for the loth of 
the month of June of the present year, the Senate and the 
Corps-Legislatif, and engage to put before their eyes the work 
which we shall have done with a commission chosen from 
among these two bodies, and to give as a basis for this con- 
stitution the following guaranties : 

Representative government shall be maintained such as it 
is to-day, divided into two bodies, to wit : 

The Senate and the Chamber composed of the deputies of 
the departments ; 

Taxes shall be freely consented to ; 



456 



CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF 1814 



Public and personal liberty are guaranteed; 

Liberty of the press shall be respected, saving the precau- 
tions necessary for the public tranquility; 

Liberty of worship is guaranteed ; 

Property shall be inviolable and sacred ; the sale of the 
national lands shall remain irrevocable. 

Responsible ministers may be prosecuted by one of the 
legislative chambers and judged by the other. 

Judges shall be removed, and the judicial power independ- 
ent ; 

The public debt shall be guaranteed ; pensions, ranks and 
military honors shall be preserved, as also the old and the new 
nobility. 

The Legion of Honor, of which we will fix the decoration, 
shall be maintained. 

Every Frenchman shall be eligible to civil and military 
employments. 

Finally, no person shall be disturbed on account of his 
opinions or his vote. 

Given at St. Ouen, May 2, 1814. 

Signed, Louis. 



93. Constitutional Charter of 1814. 

June 4, 1814. Duvei'gier, Lois, XIX, 59-73. 

This famous document presents many points of interest. Two 
features of it are particularly worthy of notice. (1) As a state- 
ment of what the restored Bourbons would accept, it exhibits some 
of the most important permanent gains of the Revolution. This 
may be brought out by comparing it with typical cahiers of 1789 
or with the Constitution of 1791 (No. 15). As the frame of gov- 
ernment under which France lived until 1830, it is an excellent 
starting point for a study of that period. The phraseology of the 
document reouires careful attention. 

References. FyfEe, Modern Europe, II, 14-15 (Popular ed., 
376-377) ; Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 106-108 ; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Europe, I, 135-137. 

Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, 
to all those to whom these presents come, greeting. 

Divine Providence, in recalling us to our Estates after 



CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OP 1814 457 

a long absence, has laid upon us great obligations. Peace 
was the first need of our subjects: we have employed our- 
selves thereto without relaxation ; and that peace, so necessary 
for France, as well as for the remainder of Europe, is signed. 
A constitutional Charter was called for by the actual condition 
of the kingdom ; we promised it, and we now publish it. We 
have taken into consideration that, although all authority ni 
France resides in the person of the King, our predecessors 
have not hesitated to alter the exercise thereof in accordance 
with the change of the times : that it was in this manner 
that the Communes owed their' emancipation to Louis the 
Fat, the confirmation and extension of their rights to Saint 
Louis and Philip the Fair; that the judicial system was estab- 
lished and developed by the laws of Louis XI, Henry II 
and Charles IX; and finally, that Louis XIV regulated almost 
all parts of the public administration by various ordinances 
whose wisdom nothing has yet surpassed. 

We are bound, by the example of the Kings, our pred- 
ecessors, to estimate the effects of the ever increasing prog- 
ress of enlightenment, the new relations which these advances 
have introduced into society, the direction impressed upon 
opinions during the past half century, and the significant al- 
terations which have resulted therefrom: we have recognized 
that the wish of our subjects for a constitutional Charter 
was the expression of a real need; but, in yielding to this 
wish, we have taken every precaution that this Charter should 
be worthy of us and of the people over whom we are proud 
to rule. Sagacious men taken from the highest body of 
the State met with commissioners of our Council to labor 
upon this important work. 

While we have recognized that a free and monarchical 
constitution was necessary to meet the expectation of en- 
lightened Europe, we have also been constrained to remember 
that our first duty towards our subjects was to preserve, in 
their own interest, the rights and prerogatives of our crown. 
We have hoped that, taught by experience, they may be con- 
vinced that only the supreme authority can give to institu- 
tions which it establishes the strength, permanence, and maj- 
esty with which it is itself invested; that thus, when the wis- 
dom of the King freely coincides with the wish of the people, 



458 CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF 1814 

a constitutional Charter can be of long duration; but that, 
when violence wrests concessions from the feebleness of the 
Government, public liberty is not less in danger than the 
throne itself. In a word, we have sought the principles of 
the constitutional Charter in the French character and in the 
enduring examples of past ages. Thus, we have seen, in 
the renewal of the peerage, an institution truly national and 
one which must bind all the recollections with all the hopes, 
in bringing together former and present times. 

We have replaced by the Chamber 'of Deputies those for- 
mer assemblies of the Fields of March and May, and those 
Chambers of the Third Estate, which so often gave at the 
same time proof of zeal for the interests of the people and of 
fidelity and respect for the authority of the King. In thus 
attempting to renew the chain of the times, which disastrous 
errors have broken, we have banished from our recollection, 
as we could wish it were possible to blot out from history, 
all the evils which have afflicted the fatherland during our 
absence. Happy to find ourselves once more in the bosom 
of our great family, we have felt that we could respond to 
the love of which we have received so many testimonials, only 
by pronouncing words of peace and consolation. The dearest 
vrish of our heart is that all Frenchmen s|iould live as brothers, 
and that no bitter recollection should ever disturb the security 
that must follow the solemn act which we grant them to-day. 

Assured of our intentions, and strengthened by our con- 
science, we pledge ourselves, in the presence of the assembly 
which hears us, to be faithful to this Constitutional Charter, 
reserving to ourselves to swear to maintain it with a new 
solemnity, before the altars of Him who weighs in the same 
balance kings and nations. 

For these reasons. 

We have voluntarily, and by the free exercise of our royal 
authority, accorded and do accord, grant and concede to our 
subjects, as well for us as for our successors forever, the con- 
stitutional Charter which follows : 

PUBLIC LAW OF THE FRENCH. 

I. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may be 
their titles and ranks. 



CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OP 1814 459 

2. Tlie}^ contribute without distinction, in proportion to 
their fortunes, towards the expenses of the State. 

3. They are all equally admissible to civil and military 
employments. 

4. Their personal liberty is likewise guaranteed; no one 
can be prosecuted' nor arrested save in the cases provided by 
law and in the form which it prescribes. 

5. Every one may profess his religion with equal freedom, 
and shall obtain for his worship the same protection. 

6. Nevertheless, the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman re- 
ligion is the religion of the State. 

7. The ministers of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman 
religion and those of the other Christian sects alone receive 
stipends from the Royal Treasury. 

8. Frenchmen have the right to publish and to cause to be 
printed their opinions, while conforming with the laws, which 
are necessary to restrain abuses of that liberty. 

* 9. All property is inviolable without any exception for 
that which is called national, the law making no distinction 
between them. 

10. The state can require the sacrifice of a property on 
account of a legally established public interest, but with a 
previous indemnity. 

11. All investigations of opinions and votes given prior 
to the restoration are forbidden. The same oblivion is re- 
quired from the tribunals and from citizens. ^ 

• 12. The conscription is abolished. The method of re- 
cruiting for the army and navy is determined by a law. 

Form of the Government of the King. 

13. The person of the King is inviolable and sacred. His 
ministers are responsible. To the King alone belongs the 
executive power. 

14. The King is the Supreme Head of the State, commands 
the land and sea forces, declares war, makes treaties of peace, 
alliance and commerce, appoints to all places of public admin- 
istration, and makes the necessary regulations and ordinances 
for the execution of the laws and the security of the State. 

15. The legislative power is exercised collectively by the 
King, the Chamber of Peers, and the Chamber of Deputies 
of the departments. 



46o CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF 1814 

i6. The King proposes the laws. 

17. The proposition for a law is sent, at the pleasure of 
the King, to the Chamber of Peers or to that of the Deputies, 
except a law for the imposition of taxes, which must be sent 
first to the Chamber of Deputies. 

18. Every law shall be freely discussed and voted by the 
majority of each of the two Chambers. 

19. The Chambers have the power to petition the King 
to propose a law upon any subject whatsoever and to indicate 
what seems suitable for the law to contain. 

20. This request can be made by either of the two Cham- 
bers, but only after having been discussed in secret committee ; 
it shall be sent to the other Chamber by that which shall have 
proposed it, only after an interval of ten days. 

21. If the proposal is adopted by the other Chamber, it 
shall be laid before the King; if it is rejected, it cannot be 
presented again in the same session. 

22. The King al©ne sanctions and promulgates the laws. 

23. The civil list is fixed, for the entire duration of the 
reign, by the first legislature assembled after the accession of 
the King. 

Of the Chamber of Peers. 

24. The Chamber of Peers is an essential part of the leg- 
islative power. 

25. It is convoked by the King at the same time as the 
Chamber of the Deputies of the departments, The session 
of the one begins and ends at the same time as that of the 
other. 

26. Every meeting of the Chamber of Peers which may 
be held outside of the time of the session of the Chamber of 
Deputies, or which may not be ordered by the King, is unlaw- 
ful and of no validity. 

27. The appointment of peers of France belongs to the 
King. Their number is unlimited : he can at his pleasure alter 
their dignities, appoint them for life, or make them hereditary. 

28. Peers have entrance to the Chamber at twenty-five 
years, and a deliberative voice only at thirty years. 

29. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the Chan- 
cellor of France, and in his absence, by a peer appointed by 
the King. 



CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OP 1814 



461 



30. Members of the royal family and princes of the blood 
are peers by right of their birth. They sit directly behind the 
president ; bilt they have no deliberative voice until twenty- 
five years of age. 

31. The princes can take their places in the Chamber only 
upon the order of the King, expressed for each session by 
a message, under penalty of invalidating everything which may 
have been done in their presence. 

},2. All the deliberations of the Chamber of Peers are 
secret. 

Z2i- The Chamber of Peers has jurisdiction over crimes 
of high treason and the attacks against the security of the 
State, which shall be defined by law. 

34. No peer can be arrested except by the authority of 
the Chamber, nor tried in a criminal matter except by it. 

Of the Chamber of Deputies of the Departments. 

35. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the 
deputies elected by electoral colleges whose organization shall 
be determined by law. 

-^6. Each department shall have the same number of dep- 
uties that it has had up to the present time. 

2,7- The deputies shall be elected for five years and in such 
a manner that the Chamber may be renewed each year by a 
fifth. 

38. No deputy can be admitted to the Chamber unless 
he is forty years of age and pays a direct tax of one thousand 
francs. 

39. If, nevertheless, there cannot be found in the depart- 
ment fifty persons of the requisite age, who pay at least one 
thousand francs of direct taxes, their number shall be filled 
up from the largest taxpayers under one thousand francs, and 
these shall be elected together with the first. 

40. Electors who meet for the naming of deputies cannot 
have the right of suffrage, unless they pay a direct tax of 
three hundred francs and are not less than thirty years of age. 

'41. The presidents of the electoral colleges shall be ap- 
pointed by the King, and are ex-officio members of the college. 
42. At least one-half of the deputies shall be choisen from 
among the eligibles who have their political domicile in the 
department. 



462 CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OF 1814 

43. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is ap- 
pointed by the King, from a list of five members presented by 
the Chamber. 

44. The sittings of the Chamber are pubHc, but the request 
of five members suffices for it to form itself into secret com- 
mittee. 

45. The Chamber divides itself into bureaux in order to 
discuss the propositions which have been presented to it by 
the King. 

46. No amendment can be made in a lavi^ unless it has 
been proposed or consented to by the King, and unless it has 
been sent back to the bureaux and discussed there. 

47. The Chamber of Deputies receives all proposals in 
regard to taxes ; only after these proposals have been ac- 
cepted can they be carried to the Chamber of Peers. 

48. No tax can be imposed or collected, unless it has 
been consented to by the two chambers and sanctioned by the 
King. 

49. The land-tax is consented to only for one year. In- 
direct taxes can be established for several years. 

50. The King convokes the two Chambers each year : he 
prorogues them, and can dissolve that of the deputies of the 
departments ; but, in that case, he must convoke a new one 
within the space of three months. 

51. No bodily constraint can be exercised against a mem- 
ber of the Chamber during the session nor in the preceding or 
following six weeks. 

52. No member of the Chamber, during the course of the 
session, can be prosecuted or arrested upon a criminal charge, 
unless he should be taken in the act, except after the Chamber 
has permitted his prosecution. 

53. No petition can be made or presented to either of the 
Chambers, except in writing. The law forbids the bringing of 
them in person to the bar. 

Of the Ministers. 

54. The ministers can be members of the Chamber of Peers 
or of the Chamber of Deputies. They have, besides, their en- 
trance into either Chamber, and they must be heard when they 
demand it. 

55. The Chamber of Deputies has the right to accu,se the 



CONSTITUTIONAL CHARTER OP 1814 463 

ministers and to arraign them before the Chamber of Peers, 
which alone has that of trying them, 

56. They can be accused only for acts of treason and pecu- 
lation. Special laws shall determine the nature of this offence 
and shall fix the method of prosecution. 

Of the Judiciary. 

57. All justice emanates from the King. It is administered 
in his name by judges whom he appoints and whom he invests. 

58. The judges appointed by the King are irremovable. 

59. The courts and regular tribunals actually existing are 
continued. None of them shall be changed except by virtue of 
a law. 

60. The existing commercial court is retained. 

61. The justice of the peace, likewise, is retained. Justices 
of the peace, although appointed by the King, are not irremov- 
able. 

62. No one can be deprived of the jurisdiction of his nat- 
ural judges. 

63. In consequence, extraordinary commissions and tri- 
bunals cannot be created. Provost-courts are not included un- 
der this denomination, if their re-establishment is deemed nec- 
essary. 

64. Criminal trials shall be public, unless such publicity 
should be dangerous to order and morality, and, in that case, 
the tribunal shall declare it by a judicial order. 

65. The system of juries is retained. Changes which a 
longer experience may cause to be thought necessary can be 
made only by a law. 

6. The penalty of confiscation of property is abolished 
and cannot be re-established. 

d'j. The King has the right of pardon, and that of com- 
muting penalties. 

68. The Civil Code, and the laws actually existing which 
are not in conflict with the present Charter, remain in force 
until legally abrogated. 

Special Rights Guaranteed by the State, 

69. Persons in active military service, retired officers and 
soldiers, pensioned widows, officers and soldiers, retain their 
ranks, honors and pensions. 



464 PROCLAMATION OF NAPOLEON 

70. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of engage- 
ment made by the State with its creditors is inviolable. 

71, The old nobility resume their titles. The new retain 
theirs. The King makes nobles at will, but he grants to them 
only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the bur- 
dens and duties of society. 

'J2. The Legion of Honor is maintained. The King shall 
determine its internal regulations and its decoration. 

JT). The colonies shall be governed by special laws "and 
regulations. 

74. The King and his successors shall swear, at the solem- 
nizing of their coronation, to observe faithfully the present 
Constitutional Charter. 

Temporary Articles. 

75. The deputies of the departments of France who sat in 
the Corps-Legislatif at the time of its last adjournment shall 
continue to sit in the Chamber of Deputies until replaced. 

76. The first renewal of a fifth of the Chamber of Deputies 
shall take place in the year 1816, at the latest, according to the 
order established in the series. 

We command that the present Constitutional Charter, laid 
before the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif, in conformity with 
our proclamation of May 2, shall be sent forthwith to the 
Chamber of Peers and that of the Deputies. 

Given at Paris, in the year of grace, 1814, and of our reign 
the nineteenth. 

Signed, Louis. 



94. Proclamation of Napoleon. 

March 1, 1815. Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 375-376. 

This proclamation, dated on the day of his arrival in France 
from Elba, is typical of the declarations and addresses made by 
Napoleon during the course of his journey to Paris. A similar 
proclamation was addressed -to the army. The manner in which 
the disasters of 1814 are explained and the skill with which ap- 
peal is made to the memories of the Empire should be noticed. 

Refekence. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 903- 
904. 

Frenchmen, the defection of the Duke of Castiglione de- 



PROCLAMATION OP NAPOLEON 



465 



livered Lyon without defence to our enemies; the army, of 
which I had confided to him the command, was, by the num- 
ber of its battahons, and the bravery and patriotism of the 
troops who composed it, in a condition to fight the Austrian 
army which was opposing it and to reach the rear of the left 
flank of the hostile army which was threatening Paris. 

The victories of Champ-Aubert, Montmirail, Chateau-Thier- 
ry-, Vauchamp, Mormans, Montereau, Craone, Reims, Arcy- 
sur-Aube and Saint-Dizier, the insurrection of the brave peas- 
ants of Lorraine, Champagne, Alsace, Franche-Comte and 
Bourgogne, and the position which I had taken at the rear of 
the hostile army, separating it from its magazines, its reserve 
parks, its convoys and all its equipment, had placed it in a 
desperate position. Frenchmen were never at the point of be- 
ing more powerful, and the flower of the hostile airmy was lost 
beyond recovery; it would have found its grave in those vast 
countries which it had so pitilessly plundered, but that the 
treason of the Duke of Raguse- gave up the capital and disor- 
ganized the army. The unexpected conduct of these two gen- 
erals, who betrayed at one and the same time their fathereland, 
their prince and their benefactor, changed the destiny of the 
war. The disastrous situation of the enemy was such, that 
at the end of the affair which took place before Paris, they 
were without ammunition, through separation from their re- 
serve parks. 

Under these new and difficult circumstances my heart was 
torn, but my soul remained steadfast. I only thought of the 
interest of the fatherland ; I exiled myself upon a rock in the 
midst of the sea; my life was and must still be useful to you, 
I did not allow the greater part of those who wished to ac- 
company me to share my let ; I thought their presence was use- 
ful in France, and I only took with me a handful of valiant 
men as my guard. 

Raised to the throne by your choice, everything that has 
been done without you is illegitimate. During the last twenty- 
five years, France has acquired new interests, new institutions, 
and a new glory, which can only be guaranteed by a national 
government and by a dynasty born under these new circum- 
stances. A prince who should reign over you, who should 
be seated upon my throne by the power of the very armies 



466 DECREE FOR EXTRAORDINARY ASSEMBLY 

who have devastated our territory, would seek in vain to sup- 
port himself by the principles of feudal rights and he could 
only assure the honor and the rights of a small number of 
individuals, enemies of the people, who, for twentj^-five years 
past, have condemned them in our national assemblies. Your 
internal peace and your foreign prestige would be forever 
lost. 

Frenchmen ! In my exile I have heard your complaints and 
your desires: you were claiming that Government of your 
choice, which alone is legitimate. You were complaining of my 
long sleep, you reproached me with sacrificing to my own re- 
pose the great interests of the fatherland. 

I have crossed the seas in the midst of perils of every sort ; 
I arrive among you in order to reclaim my rights, which are 
yours. Everything which individuals have done, written or 
said since the taking of Paris, I will forever ignore; that will 
not in the least influence the recollection which I have of the 
important services that they have rendered; for there are 
events of such a nature that they are beyond human organ- 
ization. 

Frenchmen! There is no nation, however small it may be, 
which has not had the right to withdraw and which may not 
be withdrawn from the dishonor of obeying a prince im- 
posed upon it by a momentarily victorious enemy. When 
Charles VII re-entered Paris and overthrew the ephemeral 
throne of Henry VI, he recognized that he held his throne 
by the bravery of his soldiers and not from a prince regent of 
England. 

It is also to you alone, and to the brave men of the army, 
that I consider and shall always consider it glorious to owe 
everything. 

Signed, Napoleon. 



95. Decree for Convoking an Extraordinary Assembly. 

March 13, 1815. Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 375-376. 

This decree is typical of the series issued by Napoleon while 
at Lyon on his journey to Paris. The list of reasons for dissolv- 
ing the Senate and Corps-Legislatif contains many of the popular 



DECREE FOR EXTRAORDINARY ASSEMBLY 467 

grievances against the restored Bourbon regime for things actually 
done or anticipated. 

Refeeknces. Fournier, J^'aiioleon, 692 ; Rose, 'Napoleon, II, 
408. 



Napoleon, by the grace of God and the Constitutions of 
the Empire, Emperor of the French, considering that the 
Chamber of Peers is in part composed of persons who have 
borne arms against France, and who have an interest in the 
re-establishment of feudal rights, in the destruction of equality 
among the different classes, in the setting aside of the sales 
of the national lands, and, in short, in depriving the people 
of the rights which they have acquired by twenty-five years of 
conflict against the enemies of the national glory; 

Considering that the powers of the deputies to the Corps- 
Legislatif have expired, and that, therefore, the Chamber of the 
Commons has no longer any national character; that a portion 
of that chamber has shown itself unworthy of the confidence of 
the nation by adhering to the re-establishment of the feudal 
nobility, abolished by constitutions that the people have ac- 
cepted; in causing France to pay debts contracted abroad for 
the purpose of organizing coalitions and hiring armies against 
the French people; in giving to the Bourbons the title of 
legitimate King, thereby declaring that the French people and 
armies were rebels, and proclaiming that the only good 
Frenchmen were the Emigres, who have for twenty-five years 
rent the bosom of the fatherland and violated all the rights 
of the people by consecrating the principle that the nation 
was made for the throne and not the throne for the nation. 

We have decreed and do decree as follows : 

1. The Chamber of Peers is dissolved. 

2. The Chamber of the Commons is dissolved ; each of its 
members summoned and arrived at Paris since the seventh 
of March is ordered to return to his domicile without delay. 

3. The electoral colleges of the departments of the Empire 
shall meet at Paris during the course of the approaching 
month of May in extraordinary assembly of the Chamip-de- 
Mai, for the purpose of taking suitable measures to correct 
and modify our constitutions in accordance with the interest 
and the v/ill of the nation, and at the same time to assist at 



^68 DECLARATION AGAINST NAPOLEON 

the coronation of the Empress, our very dear and well be- 
loved wife, and at that of our dear and well beloved son. 



96. Declaration of the Powers against Napoleon. 

March 13, 1815. British and Foreign State Papers, II, 665. 

This declaration was issued by the Congress of Vienna upon 
learning that Napoleon had left Elba. It shows the precise atti- 
tude of the Powers of Europe towards him. 

References. Fournier, Napoleon, 697-699 ; Rose, Napoleon, 
II, 410-411 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Oenerale, X, 47. 

The Powers who have signed the Treaty of Paris reas- 
sembled in Congress at Vienna, having been informed of 
the escape of Napoleon Bonaparte and of his entrance into 
France with an armed force, owe to their dignity and the 
interest of social order a solemn Declaration of the senti- 
ments which that event has inspired in them. 

In thus violating the convention which established him in 
the Island of Elba, Bonaparte destroyed the only legal title 
for his existence. By reappearing in France with projects of 
disorder and destruction, he has cut himself off from the pro- 
tection of the law and has shown in the face of the world 
that there can be neither peace nor truce with him. 

Accordingl}', the Powers declare that Napoleon Bonaparte 
is excluded from civil and social relations, and, as an Enemy 
and Disturber of the tranquility of the World, that he has 
incurred public vengeance. 

At the same time, being firmly resolved to preserve intact 
the Treaty of Paris of May 30, 1814, and the arrangements 
sanctioned by that treaty, as well as those which have been 
or shall be arranged hereafter in order to complete and con- 
solidate it, they declare that they will employ all their re- 
sources and will unite all their efforts in order that the Gen- 
eral Peace, the object of the desires of Europe and the con- 
stant aim of their labors, may not be again disturbed, and in 
order to secure themselves from all attempts which may 



TREATY OF ALLIANCE AGAINST NAPOLEON 469 

threaten to plunge the World once more into the disorders 
and misfortunes of revohrtions. 

And although fully persuaded that all France, rallying 
around its legitimate sovereign, will strive unceasingly to 
bring to naught this last attempt of a criminal and impotent 
madman, all the Soverigns of Europe, animated by the same 
feeling and guided by the same principles, declare that if, con- 
trary to all expectation, there shall result from that event 
any real danger, they will be ready to give to the King of 
France and the French Nation or to any government which 
shall he, attacked, as soon as shall be required, all the as- 
sistance necessary to re-establish the public tranquility, and 
to make common cause against all who may attempt to com- 
promise it. 

The present Declaration, inserted in the protocol of the 
Congress assembled at Vienna, March 13, 1815, shall be made 
public. 



97. Treaty of Alliance against Napoleon. 

March 25, 1815. De Clercy, Traitcs, II, 474-476. 

This treaty was framed for the purpose of giving effect to the 
declaration of March 13 (see No. 96). It shows the strength, pur- 
pose and general character of the alliance against which Napoleon 
had to contend. 

Refeeences. J'ournier, Napoleon, 698-699 ; Rose, Napoleon, II, 
412 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, IX, 922, X, 47-49. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. 

His Majesty the King of Prussia and His Majesty the King 
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, having 
taken into consideration the result which the invasion of 
France by Napoleon Bonaparte and the present situation of 
that Kingdom may have for the security of Europe, have 
resolved of one accord with His Majesty the Emperor erf. all 
the Russias and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King 
of Hungary and of Bohemia, to apply, to that important cir- 
cumstance the principles consecrated by the Treaty of Chau- 
mont. In consequence, they have agreed to renew by a sol- 



470 



TREATY OF ALLIANCE AGAINST NAPOLEON 



emn Treaty, signed separately by each of the four powers 
with each of the other three, the engagement to preserve 
against every attack the order of things so happily re-estab- 
lished in Europe and to determine the most effective means to 
put this engagement into execution, as well as to give it all 
the extension which, under the present circumstances, it im- 
peratively requires. 

1. The above named High Contracting Parties solemnly 
agree to unite the means of their respective States, in order 
to maintain in all their integrity the conditions of the Treaty 
of Peace concluded at Paris on May 30, 1814, as well as the 
stipulations agreed to and signed at the Congress of Vienna 
with the purpose of completing the dispositions of that Treaty 
and of guaranteeing them against every attack and particularly 
against the designs of Napoleon Buonaparte. For that purpose 
if the case should demand it and in the sense of the Declar- 
ation of March 13 last, they agree to direct in concert and in 
common accord all their efforts against him and against all 
who may have already rallied to his faction or who may 
unite with it hereafter, in order to force them to desist from 
that project and to render them unable to disturb in the fu- 
ture the tranquility of Europe and the general peace, under 
the protection of which the rights, the liberty and the inde- 
pendence of the nations have just come to be placed and as- 
sured. 

2. Although so great and so beneficent an aim does not 
permit the means destined for its attainment to be measured, 
and although the High Contracting Parties have resolved to 
consecrate to it all those of which, according to their re- 
spective situations, they can dispose, they have each agreed 
to keep constantly in the field an hundred fifty thousand men 
complete, including at least the proportion of one-tenth of 
cavalry and a just proportion of artillery, without counting 
garrisons, and to employ them actively and in concert 
against the common enem}-. 

3. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally agree not 
to lay aside their arms' except by a common accord and not 
until the object of the war designated in article i of the 
present Treaty has been attained, and not until Buonaparte 



ACT ADDITIONAL 



471 



shall have been put absolutely beyond the possibility of ex- 
citing disturbances and of renewing his attempts to seize 
upon the supreme power in France. 

4. The present Treaty being principally applicable to the 
present circumstances, the stipulations of the Treaty of Chau- 
mont, and especially those contained in article 14, shall again 
have all their force and vigor as soon as the present purpose 
shall have been attained. 

7. The engagements stipulated in the present Treaty hav- 
ing for their purpose the maintenance of the general peace, 
the High Contracting Parties agree among themselves to in- 
vite all the Powers of Europe to accede to it. 

8. The present Treaty being solely intended for the purpose 
of supporting France or any other invaded country against 
the enterprises of Buonaparte and his adherents. His Most 
Christian Majesty shall be specially invited to give his adher- 
ence to it and to make known, for the case in which the forces 
stipulated in article 2 should be required, what assistance cir- 
cumstances will permit him to bring to the object of the 
present Treaty. 

Separate, Additional and Secret Article. 
As circumstances may prevent His Majesty the King of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from keeping 
constantly in the field the number of troops specified in article 
2, it is agreed that His Britannic Majesty shall have the right 
either to furnish his contingent or to pay at the rate of thirty 
pounds sterling per annum for each infantryman, to the extent 
of the number stipulated in article 2. 



98. The Act Additional. 

April 22, 1815. Duvergier, Lois, XIX, 403-410. 

Upon returning to France Napoleon promised that political lib- 
erty should be secured. This document was promulgated in con- 
sequence of that promise. It was in the main the work of Ben- 
jamin Constant, a liberal and former opponent of the Empire. It 



472 ACT ADDITIONAL 

should be compared with the constitutions of the Empire which 
it supplemented and modified (see Nos. 58, 66 E, 71) and the 
Constitutional Charter which it replaced (No. 93). As with the 
preceding imperial constitutions, it was svibmitted to popular vote. 
The interest in it, however, was slight. It was never actually put 
into operation. 

Refeeencks. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 42-45 (Popular ed., 
395-397); Fournier, JS'apoleon, 702-705; Rose, Napoleon, II, 414- 
415 ; Sloane, Napoleon, IV, 167-168 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, His- 
toire Generale, IX, 919-921. 

Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitutions", Em- 
peror of the French. Since we were called fifteen years ago 
by the will of France to the government of the State we have 
sought at different times to improve the constitutional forms, 
according to the needs and desires of the nation and by 
profiting from the lessons of experience. The constitutions of 
the Empire have thus been formed by a series of acts which 
have received the acceptance of the people. We had then 
for our aim to organize a great European federative system, 
which we had adopted as in conformity with the spirit of the 
age and favorable to the progress of civilization. In order 
to bring it to completion and to give to it all the extent and 
?n the stability of which it was susceptible, we had postponed 
the establishment of several internal institutions, more espec- 
ially designed to protect the liberty of the citizens. Our aim 
henceforth is ncxthing else than to increase the prosperity of 
France by strengthening public liberty. From this results the 
necessity of several important alterations in the constitutions, 
senatus-consulta, and other acts which govern the Empire. 

For these reasons, wishing, on the one hand, to retain from 
the past whatever is good and salutary, and, on the other, to 
make the constitutions of our Empire entirely conformable 
to the national wishes and needs, as well as to the state of 
peace which we shall desire to maintain with Europe, we have 
resolved to propose to the people a series of provisions tending 
to alter and improve these constitutional acts, to surround the 
rights of citizens with all their guarantees, to give to the 
representative system its full extent, to invest the intermediary 
bodies with desirable importance and power; in a word, to 
combine the highest point of political liberty and individual 
security with the strength and centralization necessary to 



ACT ADDITIONAL 



473 



make the independence of the French people and the dignity 
of our crown respected by foreigners. In consequence, the 
following articles, farming an act supplementary to the con- 
stitutions of the Empire, shall be submitted for the free 
and solemn acceptance of all citizens throughout the whole 
extent of France. 

TITLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

1. The constitutions of the Empire, particularly the con- 
stitutional act of 2.2 Frimaire, Year VIII, the senatus-con- 
sulta of 14 and 16 Thermidor, Year X, and that of 28 Floreal, 
Year XII, shall be altered by the following provisions. All of 
their other provisions are confirmed and maintained. 

2. The legislative power is exercised by the Emperor and 
by two Chambers. 

3. The first Chamber, called Chamber of Peers, is hered- 
itary. 

4. The Emperor appoints its members, who are irremov- 
jd-Die, they and their male descendants in the direct line from 

eldest to eldest. The number of peers is unlimited. Adoption 
does not transmit the dignity of a peer to the one who is the 
object of it. 

Peers take seats at twenty-one years of age, but have a 
deliberative voice only at twenty-five. 

5. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the Arch- 
chancellor of the Empire, or, in the case provided for by article 
51 of the senatus-consultum of 28 Floreal, Year XII, by one 
of the members of that Chamber especially designated by the 
Emperor. 

6. The members of the imperial family within the order 
of succession are peers by right. They sit behind the pres- 
ident. They take seats at eighteen years of age, but have 
a deliberative voice only at twenty-one years. 

7. The second Chamber, called Chamber of Representa- 
tives, is elected by the people. 

8. The members of this Chamber are in number six hun- 
dred and twenty-nine. They must be at least twenty-five years 
of age. 

9. The President of the Chamber of Representatives is 
appointed by the Chamber at the opening of the first session. 



474 



ACT ADDITIONAL 



He remains in office until the renewal of the Chamber. His 
appointment is submitted to the approval of the Emperor. 

10. The Chamber of the Representatives verifies the pow- 
ers of its members and pronounces upon the validity of con- 
tested elections. 

11. The members of the Chamber of Representatives re- 
ceive for the expenses of travel and during the session the 
compensation decreed by the Constituent Assembly. 

12. They are indefinitely re-eligible. 

13. The Chamber of Representatives is of right renewed 
entire every five years. 

14. No member of either Chamber can be arrested, saving 
the case of flagrante delicto, nor prosecuted for a criminal or 
correctional matter, during the sessions, except in virtue of 
a resolution of the -Chamber of which he is a part. 

15. None can be arrested or imprisoned for debts from the 
beginning of the convocation nor for forty days after the 
session. 

16. Peers are tried by their Chamber in criminal .and cor- 
rectional matters in the forms which shall be regulated by law. 

17. The character of peer or of representative is compat- 
ible with any public position, except those of accountants. 

Nevertheless, the prefects and sub-prefects cannot be elected 
by the electoral college of the department or the district which 
they administer. 

18. The Emperor sends into the Chambers Ministers of 
State and Councillors of State, who sit there and take part 
in the discussions, but have a deliberative A^oice only in case 
they are members of the Chamber as peers or as representa- 
tives of the people. 

19. The ministers who are members of the Chamber of 
Peers or of that of the Representatives, or who sit by direc- 
tion of the Government, give to the Chambers the explanations 
which are deemed necessary when their publicity does not com- 
promise the interest of the State. 

20. The sittings of the two Chambers are public. Never- 
theless they can form themselves into secret committee, the 
Chamber of Peers upon the request of ten members, that of the 
Representatives upon the request of twenty-five. The Gov- 
ernment can also require secret committees for communica- 



ACT ADDITIONAL 475 

tions that it has to make. In any case the decisions and the 
votes can take place only in public session. 

21. The Emperor can prorogue, adjourn and dissolve the 
Chamber of Representatives. The proclamation which pro- 
nounces the dissolution convokes the electoral colleges for a 
new election, and directs the meeting of the Representatives 
within six months at the latest. 

22. During the interval between sessions of the Chamber 
of Representatives, or in case of dissolution of that Chamber, 
the Chamber of Peers cannot assemble. 

2'^. The Government has the proposing of the laws ; the 
Chambers can propose amendments : if these amendments are 
not adopted by the Government, the Chambers are required to 
vote upon the law as it has been proposed. 

24. The Chambers have the power to invite the Govern- 
ment to propose a law upon a defined subject and to draw up 
what seemts to it suitable to insert in the law. This request 
can be made by each of the two Chambers. 

25. When a bill is adopted in one of the two Chambers, it 
is sent to the other; and if it is approved there, it is sent 
to the Emperor. 

26. No written speech, except reports of commissions, re- 
ports of the ministers upon the laws which are presented, and 
the accounts which are rendered, can be read in either of the 
Chambers. 

TITLE IT. OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES AND OF THE MANNER OF 
ELECTION. 

27. The department and district electoral colleges are 
maintained, in conformitj' with the senatus-consultum of 16 
Thermidor, Year X. except for the modifications that follow. 

28. The cantonal assemblies shall fill each year by annual 
elections all the vacancies in the electoral colleges. 

29. Dating from the year 1816, a member of the Chamber 
of Peers, designated by the Emperor, shall be president, for life 
and irremovable, of each department electoral college. 

30. Dating from the same time, the electoral college of 
each department shall appoint from among the members of 
each district college, the president and two vice-presidents. 
For this purpose the meeting of the department college shall 
precede that of the district college by fifteen days. 



476 -'^CT ADDITIONAL 

31. The colleges of the department and of the district shall 
appoint the number of representatives fixed for each by the 
act and the table herev^ath annexed, number one. 

32. Representatives can be chosen without distinction 
[of residence] within the whole extent of France. 

Each department or district college which shall choose 
a representative outside of the department or the district shall 
select a substitute who shall be taken necessarily from within 
the department or the district. 

ST,. Industry and manufacturing and commercial property 
shall have a special representation. 

The election of the co^mmercial and manufacturing repre- 
sentatives shall be made by the electoral college of the depart- 
ment out of a list of eligibles prepared by the Chamber of 
Commerce and the Consultative Chambers assembled together, 
according to the act and table herewith annexed. 

TITLE III. OF THE LAW OF TAXATION. 

34. The general direct tax, upon either real estate or per- 
sonal property, is voted only for one year ; the indirect taxes 
can be voted for several years. 

In case of the dissolution of the Chamber of Representa- 
tives, the taxes voted in the precedmg session are continued 
until the new meeting of the Chamber.' 

35. No direct or indirect tax, in money or in kind, can be 
collected, no loan can be made, no entry of credits upon the 
ledgers of the public debt can be made, no domain can be alien- 
ated or exchanged, no levy of men for the army can be ordered, 
no portion of the territory can be exchanged, except in virtue 
of a law. 

36. No proposal for taxation, loan or the levy of men, can 
be made except by the Chamber of Representatives. 

37. To the Chamber of Representatives also is first 
brought: ist, the general budget of the State, containing the 
estimate of the receipts and amount of money proposed to be 
assigned for the year to each department of the ministry; 2d, 
the account of the receipts and expenses of the year or the 
preceding years. 

TITLE IV. OF THE MINISTERS AND OF RESPONSIBILITY. 

38. All the acts of the Government must be countersigned 
by a minister having a department. 



ACT ADDITIONAL 477 

39. The ministers are responsible for the acts of the Gov- 
ernment signed by them, as well as for the execution of the 
laws. 

40. They can be accused by the Chamber of Representa- 
tives and are tried by that of the Peers. 

41. Any minister or any commander of the army or navy 
can be accused by the Chamber of Representatives and 
tried by the Chamber of Peers for having compromised the 
safety or the honor of the nation. 

42. The Chamber of Peers in this case exercises a discre- 
tionary power, either to characterise the offence or to inflict 
the penalty. 

43. Before pronouncing for the indictment of a minister, 
the Chamber of Representatives must declare that there is oc- 
casion to investigate the proposal of accusation. 

44. This declaration can be made only after the report 
of a commission of sixty members drawn by lot. This com- 
mission does not make its report sooner than ten days after 
its appointment. 

45. When the Chamber has declared that there is occasion 
to investigate, it can call before it the minister to ask for 
■explanations from him. This call cannot take place until ten 
days after the report of the commission. 

46. In no other case can ministers having departments be 
called or sent for by the Chambers. 

47. When the Chamber of Representatives has de- 
clared that there is occasion to investigate a minister, there 
is formed a new commission of sixt}^ members, drawn by lot, 
as was the first, and this commission makes a new report upon 
the indictment. This commission cannot make its report until 
ten days after its appointment. 

48. The indictment cannot be pronounced until ten days 
after the reading and the distribution of the report. 

49. The accusation being pronounced, the Chamber of 
Representatives appoints five commissioners taken from its 
"body, to prosecute the accusation before the Chamber of Peers. 

50. Article 75 of title viii of the constitutional act of 
22 Frimaire, Year VIII, providing that the agents of the Gov- 
ernment can be prosecuted only in virtue of a decision of the 
Council of State, shall be altered by a law. 



478 ACT ADDITIONAL 

TITLE V. OF THE JUDICIAL POWER. 

51. The Emperor appoints all the judges. They are irre- 
movable, and are appointed for the remainder of their lives, 
except the appointments O'f justices of the peace and judges of 
commerce, which shall take place as in the past. The present 
judges appointed by the Emperor upon the terms of the senatus- 
consultum of October 12, 1807, and whom he shall think proper 
to retain, shall receive life nominations before the first of Jan- 
uary next. 

52. The jury system is retained. 

53. Trials in criminal matters are public. 

54. Military offences only are under the jurisdiction of the 
military tribunals. 

55. All other offences, even if committed by soldiers, are 
under the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals. 

56. All crimes and offences over which the Imperial High 
Court had jurisdiction and the trial of which is not reserved by 
the present act to the Chamber of Peers, shall be brought be- 
fore the ordinary tribunals. 

57. The Emperor has the right to pardon, even in correc- 
tional matters, and to grant amnesties. 

58. The interpretations of the laws asked for by the Court 
of Cassation shall be given in the form t)f a law. 

TITLE VI. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 

59. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whether for con- 
tribution to public taxes and charges or for admission to civil 
and military employments. 

60. No one under any pretext can be deprived of the 
judges who are assigned to him by law. 

61. No one can be prosecuted, arrested, detained or exiled 
except in the cases provided for by law and according to the 
prescribed forms. 

62. Liberty of worship is guaranteed to all. 

63. All property possessed or acquired by virtue of the 
laws, and all state-credits, are inviolable. 

64. Every citizen has the right to print and publish his 
thoughts in signed form without any prior censorship, subject 
to legal responsibility, after publication, by jury trial, even when 
there may be occasion for the application of only a correctional 
penalty. 



TREATY OF PARIS 479 

65. The right of petition is secured to all citizens. Every 
petition is individual. These petitions can be addressed either 
to the Government or to the two Chambers : but these last 
also must be entitled : To his Majesty the Emperor. They 
shall be presented to the Chambers under the guarantee of a 
member who recommends the petition. They are read publicly ; 
and if the Chamber takes them into consideration, they are 
brought to the Emperor by the President. 

66. No place nor any part of the territory can be declared 
in a state of siege, except in the case of invasion on the part of 
a foreign force, or of civil troubles. 

In the first case, the declaration is made by an act of the 
Government. 

In the second case, it can be made only by a law. 

Yet, the case occurring, if the Chambers are not assembled, 
the act of the Government declaring the state of siege must 
be converted into a proposal for a law within the first fifteen 
days of the meeting of the Chambers. 

6"/. The French people declare that, in the delegation which 
it has made and which it makes of its powers, it has not in- 
tended and does not intend to give the right to propose the 
re-establishment of the Bourbons or of any prince of that fam- 
ily upon the throne, even in the case oi the extinction of the 
imperial dynasty, nor the right to re-establish either the ancient 
feudal nobility, or the feudal and seignioral rights, or the tithes, 
or any privileged and ruling worship, or the power to bring any 
attack upon the irrevocability of the sale of the national do- 
mains ; it especially forbids to the Government, the Chambers 
and the citizens any proposition of this kind. 

[The tables mentioned in articles 31 and 33 are omitted. 
These tables regulated the apportionment of the deputies.] 



99. Treaty of Paris. 

November 20, 1815. Herstlet, Map of Europe ty Treaty, 342- 
350. 

This treaty contains the terms imposed upon France by the 
Allies at the end of the Hundred Days. By comparing it with the 



480 TREATY OF PAR1;5 

treaty of the previous year (No. 91) a large part of what that 
episode cost France can be ascertained. 

Refeeences. Fyfife, Modern Europe, II, 60-63 (Popular ed., 
406-408) ; Andrews, Modern Europe, I, 111-113 ; Seignobos, Europe 
^ince 1Sj4, 113-114 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Oenerale, IX, 
i»30-931. 



In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. 

The Allied Powers having by their united efforts, and by 
the success of their arms, preserved France and Europe, from 
the convulsions with which they were menaced by the late 
enterprise of Napoleon Bonaparte, and by the revolutionary 
system reproduced in France, to promote its success ; par- 
ticipating at present with His Most Christian Majesty in the 
desire to consolidate, by maintaining inviolate the Royal 
authorit3^ and by restoring the operation of the Constitutional 
Charter, the order of things which had been happily re- 
established in France, as also in the object of restoring be- 
tween France and her neighbours those relations of recipro- 
cal confidence and good will v.diich the fatal effects of the 
Revolution and of the system of Conquest had for so long 
a time disturbed : persuaded, at the same time, that this last 
object can only be obtained by an arrangement framed to se- 
cure to the Allies proper indemnities ofor the past and solid 
guarantees for the future, they have, in concert with His 
Majesty the King of France, taken into consideration the 
means of giving effect to this arrangement ; and being satisfied 
that the indemnity due to the Allied Powers cannot be either 
entirely territorial or entirely pecuniary, without prejudice 
to France in one or other of her essential interests, and tliat 
it would be more fit to combine both the modes, in order to 
avoid the inconvenience which would result, were either re- 
sorted to separately, their Imperial and Royal Majesties have 
adopted this basis for their present transactions ; and agree- 
ing alike as to the necessity of retaining for a fixed time in 
the Frontier Provinces of France, a certain number of allied 
troops, they have determined to combine their dift'erent ar- 
rangements, founded upon these bases, in a Definitive Treaty. 

I. The frontiers of France shall be the same as they were 
in the year 1790, save and except the modifications on one 



TREATY OF PARIS 



481 



side and on the other, which are detailed in the present Ar- 
ticle. 

[This line is indicated in the maps facing p. 350 of Herst- 
let, Map of Europe by Treaty.] 

4. The pecuniary part of the indemnity to be furnished 
by France to the Allied Powers is fixed at the sum of 700,- 
000,000 Francs. . , 

5. The state of uneasiness and fermentation, which after 
so many violent convulsions, and particularly after the last 
catastrophe, France must still experience, notwithstanding the 
pa/ternal intentions of her King, and the advantages secured 
to every class of his subjects by the Constitutional Charter, 
requiring for the security of the neighbouring States, certain 
measures of precaution and of temporary guarantee, it has 
been judged indispensable to occupy, during a fixed time, by 
a corps of Allied Troops certain military positions along the 
frontiers of France, under the express reserve, that such 
occupation shall in no way prejudice the Sovereignty of His 
Most Christian Majesty, nor the state of possession, such as 
it is recognized and confirmed by the present Treaty. The 
number of these troops shall not exceed 150,000 men. . . . 
As the maintenance of the army destined for this service is 
to be provided by France, a Special Convention shall reg- 
ulate ever3Athing which may relate to that object. . 

The utmost extent of the duration of this military occupation 
is fixed at 5 years. It may terminate before that period if, 
at the end of 3 years, the Allied Sovereigns, after having, 
in concert with His Majesty the King of France, maturely 
examined their material situation and interests, and the 
progress which shall have been made in France in the re- 
establishment of order and tranquility, shall agree to acknowl- 
edge that the motives which led them to that measure have 
ceased to exist. But whatever may be the result of this delib- 
eration, all the Fortresses and Positions occupied by the Allied 
troops shall, at the expiration of 5 years, be evacuated with- 
out further delay, and given up to His Most Christian Maj- 
f!sty, or to his heirs and successors. 

II. The Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May, 1814, and 
16 



482 TREATY OF ALLIANCE AGAINST FRANCE 

the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th of June, 
1815, are confirmed, and shall be maintained in all such of 
their enactments «vhich shall not have been modified by the 
Articles of the present Treaty. 



100. Treaty of Alliance against France. 

November 20, 1815. Herstlet, Map of Europe hy Treaty, 372- 
S75. 

This secret trea,ty was signed at Paris on the same day as the 
treaty of peace with France (No. 99). It shows what Europe still 
feared from France and the measures which the Allies believed to 
be necessary in order to avert that danger. It is also important 
in connection with that concert of Powers later known as the Holy 
Alliance. Its relationship towards the Holy Alliance treaty of 
September 26, 1815, and the actual alliance should receive careful 
attention. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 63-66 (Popular ed., 
408-411) ; Andrews, Modern Europe, I, 117-121 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Histoire Oenerale, X, 65-68. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. 

The purpose of the alliance concluded at Vienna the 25th 
day of March, 1815, having been happily attained by the re- 
establishment in France of the order of things which the last 
criminal attempt of Napoleon Bonaparte had momentarily 
subverted; Their Majesties the King of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, King 
of Hungary and Bohemia, the Emperor of all the Russias, 
and the King of Prussia, considering that the repose of Europe 
is essentially interwoven with the confirmation of the order 
of things founded on the maintenance of the Royal Author- 
ity and of the Constitutional Charter, and wishing to employ 
all their means to prevent the general Tranquility (the object 
of the wishes of mankind and the constant end of their 
efforts), from being again disturbed; desirous moreover to 
draw closer the ties which unite them for the common Interests 
of their people, have resolved to give to the principles solemnly 
laid down in the Treaties of Chaumont of the ist March, 
1814, and of Vienna of the 25th of March, 181 5. tlie applica- 



TREATY OF ALLIANCE AGAINST FRANCE 483 

tion the most analogous to the present state of affairs, and to 
fix beforehand by a solemn Treaty the principles which they 
propose to follow, in order to guarantee Europe from dangers 
by which she may still be menaced; . 

I. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally promise to 
maintain, in its force and vigour, the Treaty signed this day 
with His Most Christian Majesty, and to see that the stipula- 
tions of the said Treaty, as well as those of the Particular 
Conventions which have reference thereto, shall be strictly and 
faithfully executed in their fullest extent. 

2.. The High Contracting Parties, having engaged in the 
war which has just terminated for the purpose of maintain- 
ing inviolably the Arrangements settled at Paris last year, foT 
the safety and interest of Europe, have judged it advisable 
to renew the said Engagements by the present Act, and to 
confirm them as mutually obligatory, subject to the modifica- 
tions contained in the Treaty signed this day with the Plen- 
ipotentiaries of His Most Christian Majesty, and particularly 
those by which Napoleon Bonaparte and his family in pur- 
suance of the Treaty of the nth of April, 1814, have been 
forever excluded from Supreme Power in France, which ex- 
clusion the Contracting Powers bind themselves, by the pres- 
ent Act, to maintain in full vigour, and, should it be necessary, 
with the whole of their forces. And as the same Revolution- 
an,^ Principles which upheld the last criminal usurpation, might 
again, under other forms, convulse France, and thereby en- 
danger the repose of other States ; under these circumstances, 
the High Contracting Parties solemnly admitting it to be 
their duty to redouble their watchfulness for the tranquility 
and interests of their people, engage, in case so unfortunate 
an event should again occur, to concert among themselves, 
and with His Most Christian Majesty, the measures which 
they may judge necessary to be pursued for the safety of their 
respective States, and for the general Tranquility of Europe. 

3. The High Contracting Parties, in agreeing with His 
Most Christian Majesty that a line of Militairy Positions in 
France should be occupied by a corps of Allied Troops during 
a certain number of years, had in view to secure, as far as 
lay in their power, the effect of the stipulations contained in 



484 TREATY OF ALLIANCE AGAINST FRANCE 

articles i and 2 of the present Treaty, and uniformly disposed 
to adopt every salutary measure calculated to secure the 
tranquility of Europe by maintaining the order of things re- 
established in France, they engage, in case the ,said body of 
troops should be attacked or menaced with an attack on the 
part of France, that the said Powers should be again obliged 
to place themselves on a war establishment against that 
Power, in order to maintain either of the said stipulations, or 
to secure and support the great interests to which they relate, 
each of the High Contracting Parties shall furnish, without 
delay, according to the stipulations of the Treaty of Chaumont, 
and especially in pursuance of articles 7 and 8 of that Treaty, 
its full contingent of 60,000 men, in addition to the forces left 
in France, or such part of the said contingent as the exigency 
of the case may require, should be put in motion. 

4. If, unfortunately, the forces stipulated in the preceding 
Article should be found insufficient, the High Contracting Par- 
ties will concert together, without loss of time, as to the ad- 
ditional number of troops to be furnished by each for the 
support of the common cause ; and they engage to employ, in 
case of need, the whole of their forces, in order to Ibring the 
War to a speedy and successful termination, reserving to 
themselves the right to prescribe, by common consent, such 
conditions of Peace as shall hold out to Europe a sufficient 
guarantee against the recurrence of a similar calamity. 

5. The High Contracting Parties having agreed to the dis- 
poisitions laid down in the preceding Articles, for the purpost 
of securing the effect of their engagements during the period 
of the temporary occupation, declare, moreover, that even 
after the expiration of this measure, the said engagements 
shall still remain in full force and vigour, for the purpose of 
carrying into effect such measures as may be deemed neces- 
sary for the maintenance of the stipulations contained in 
articles I and 2 of the present Act. 

6. To facilitate and to secure the execution of the present 
Treaty, and to consolidate the connections which at the pres- 
ent moment so closely unite the Four Sovereigns for the hap- 
piness of the world, the High Contracting Parties have agreed 
to renew their Meetings at fixed periods, either under the im- 
mediate auspices of the Sovereigns themselves, or by their re- 



PRESS LAWS OP THE RESTORATION 485 

spective Ministers, for the purpose of consulting upon their 
common interests, and for the consideration of the measures 
which at each of those periods shall be considered the most 
salutary for the repose and prosperity of Nations, and for 
the maintenance of the Peace of Europe. 



101. Press Laws and Ordinances of the Restoration. 

The Constitutional Charter contained only general provisions 
upon the press and the election of deputies. Both matters, therefore, 
had to be regulated by ordinances or laws, and the political battles 
of the period 3 815-1830 centered largely about these measures. 
With each pronounced chang3 of general policy there was usually 
some alteration of the measures regulating one or both- matters. 
For this reason these documents upon the press illustrate the gen- 
eral tendency of the policy pursued during the period. Document 
D was promulgated after the Chamber of Peers had rejected a 
project of law more restrictive than document C. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since 18U_, 120-125, passim; 
Andrews. Modern Europe, I, 150-166, passim; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, Uistoire Generale, X, 107-109, 111, 115, 131-133. 

A. Law upon the Press. June g, 1819. Duvergier, Lois, 
XXII, 165-166. 

I. The proprietors or editors of any newspaper or period- 
ical work, devoted in whole or in part to news or political 
matters, and appearing either on a fixed day or in parts, or 
irregularly, but more than once per month, shall be required, 

1st. To make a declaration setting forth the name of at 
least one proprietor or responsible editor, his residence and 
the duly authorised printing office at which the newspaper or 
periodical work must be printed; 

2d. To furnish a money deposit which shall be, in the 
departments of the Seine, Seine-et-Oise and Seine-et-Marne, 
ten thousand francs of yearly income for daily newspapers, 
and five thousand francs of yearly income for niewspapers 
or periodical works appearing at less frequent intervals ; 

And in the other departments, the money deposit for daily 
newspapers shall be two thousand five hundred francs of yearly 
income in cities of fifty thousand souls and upwards ; of fif- 
teen hundred francs of yearly income in the cities below 



486 PRESS LAWS OF THE RESTORATION 

[fifty thousand], and of half these yearly incomes for 
newspapers or periodical works which appear at less frequent 
intervals. 

2. The responsibility of the authors or editors named in 
the declaration shall extend to all the articles inserted in the 
newspaper or periodical work, without prejudice to the mu- 
tual responsibility of the authors or writers of the said 
articles. 

5. At the moment of the publication of each sheet or part 
of the newspaper or periodical writing, a copy thereof, signed 
by a proprietor or responsible editor, shall be sent to the 
prefecture in the head-towns of the departments, to the sub- 
prefecture in those of the district, and in the others, to the 
maire. 

This formality shall not delay nor suspend the dispatching 
or distribution of the newspaper or periodical work. 

6. Whoever shall publish a newspaper or periodical work 
without complying with the conditions prescribed by articles 
I, 4 and 5 of the present law shall be punished correctionally 
with an imprisonment of from one month to six months and 
a fine of from two hundred francs to twelve hundred francs, 

7. The editors of any newspaper or periodical work shall 
not render an account of the secret sessions of the Chambers, 
ror of one of them, without their authorisation. 

9. The proprietors or responsible editors of a newspaper 
or periodical work, or the authors or writers of articles printed 
in the said newspaper or work, accused of crimes or offences 
for act of publication, shall be prosecuted and tried in the 
forms and according to the distinctions prescribed with re- 
spect to all other publications. 

B. Law upon the Press. March 31, 1820. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXII, 409-410. 

I. The free publication of newspapers and periodical works 
devoted in whole or in part to news and to political matters. 



PRESS LAWS OP THE RESTORATION 487 

and appearing either at a fixed day or irregularly and hy parts, 
is temporarily suspended until the term hereinafter fixed. 

2. None of the said newspapers and periodical works can 
be published except with the authorisation of the King. 

However, the actually existing newspapers and periodical 
works shall continue to appear, upon conforming with the pro- 
visions of the present law. 

3. The authorisation required by the preceding article can 
be accorded only to those which shall prove that they have 
conformed with the conditions prescribed in article i of the 
law of June 9, 1819. 

4. Before the publication of any sheet or part, the manu- 
script must be submitted, by the proprietor or responsible ed- 
itor, to a prior examination. 

5. Any proprietor or responsible editor who may have 
caused to be printed a sheet or a part of a newspaper or peri- 
odical work without having communicated it to the censor 
before printing, or who may have inserted in one of the said 
sheets or parts an article not communicated or not approved, 
shall be punished correctionally by an imprisonment of from 
one month to six m^onths, and by a fine ot from two hundred 
francs to twelve hundred francs, without prejudice to the pros- 
ecutions to which the contents of these sheets, parts and 
articles may give occasion. 

6. When a proprietor or responsible editor shall be pros- 
ecuted in virtue of the preceding article the Government can 
pronounce the suspension of the newspaper or periodical work 
until the judicial decision. 

7. Upon inspection of the judgment of condemnation, the 
Government can prolong for a term which shall not exceed six 
months, the suspension of the said newspaper or periodical 
work. In case of repetition it can pronounce definitively the 
suppression thereof. 

8. No printed, engraved or lithographic design can be 
published, exposed, distributed or put on sale, without the 
prior authorisation of the Government. 

Those who may contravene this provision shall be pun- 
ished with the penalties provided in article 5 of the present 
law. 

9. The provisions of the laws of May 17, May 26, and 



488 PRESS LAWS OF THE RESTORATION 

June 9,' 1819, in which there is no alteration by the above 
articles shall continue to be executed. 

ID. The present law of right shall cease to have its effect 
at the end of the session of 1820. 

C. Law upon the Press. March 17, 1822. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXIII, 478-480. 

1. No newspaper or periodical work, devoted in whole or 
in part to news or to political matters, and appearing -either 
regularly and at fixed day, or by parts and irregularly, can 
be established and published without the authorisation of the 
King. 

This .provision is not applicable to the newspapers and peri- 
odical works existing January i, 1822. 

2. The first copy of each sheet or part of periodical works 
and newspapers, at the very instant of its issue from the press, 
shall be dispatched to and deposited at the office of the pro- 
cureur of the King of the place of printing. This remittance 
shall take the place of that which was prescribed by article 
5 of the law of June 9, 1819. 

3. In the case in which the spirit of a newspaper or 
periodical work, resulting from a succession of articles, may 
be of a nature to constitute an attack upon the public peace, 
the respect due to the religion of the State or other religions 
legally recognized in France, the authority of the King, the 
stability of the constitutional institutions, the inviolability of 
the sales of the national lands and the tranquil possession 
of these properties, the royal courts in the jurisdiction of which 
they shall be established, in solemn audience of two chambers 
and after having heard the procureur-general and the parties, 
shall be able to pronounce the suspension of the newspaper 
or periodical work during a" time which cannot exceed one 
month for the first time and three months for the second. 
After these two suspensions, in case of new repetition, defin- 
itive suppression can be ordered. 

4. If, in the interval of the sessions oif the Chambers, 
grave circumstances should render momentarily insufficient the 
established measures of guarantee and repression, the laws of 
March 31, 1820, and of July 26, 1821, can be immediately put 
into operation again, in virtue of an ordinance of the King 



KEEPER OF THE SEALS CIRCULAR 



489 



deliberated in Council of State and countersigned by three 
ministers. 

This provision of right shall cease one month after the 
opening of the session of the two Chambers, if, during that 
interval, it has not been converted into a law. 

It, likewise of right, shall cease the day on which may 
be published an ordinance which pronounces the dissolution of 
the Chamber of Deputies. 

5. The provisions of previous laws in which there is no 
alteration by the present shall continue to be executed. 

D. Royal Ordinance upon the Press. June 24, 1827. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XXVII, 290. 

Charles, etc., upon the report of our Minister-Secretary of 
State for the department of the Interior, in view of our or- 
dinance of this day, concerning the putting in operation of the 
laws of March 31, 1820, and of July 26, 1821, relative to the' 
publication of newspapers and periodical works, etc. 

1. There shall be at Paris, in the service of our Minister- 
Secretary of State for the department of the Interior, a; bureau 
charged with the prior examination of all newspapers and 
periodical works. 

2. This bureau shall be composed of six censors, who shall 
be appointed by us, upon the presentation of our Minister- 
Secretary of State of the Interior. 

3 Every number of a newspaper or periodical work, before 
being printed, must have been furnished with the visa of this 
bureau, which shall authorise the publication thereof, in con- 
formity with article 5 of the law of March 31, 1820. 

6. In the departments, the prefects shall appoint, according 
to the needs, one or several censors charged with the prior 
examination of the newspapers which shall be published there. 



102. Circular of the Keeper of the Seals. 

About February 1, TS24. Moniteur, February 4, 1824. 

In February, 1824, a general election for members of the Cham- 



490 



KEEPER OF THE SEALS CIRCULAR 



bei" of Deputies occurred. Tlie reactionai*y ministry then in office 
left no stone unturned in its efforts to secure a large majority 
favorable to itself. This document, which was sent to all of the 
prefects, illustrates the kind . of methods employed by the min- 
istry in that election and is also typical of the manner in which 
the administrative officials were used throughout the period. The 
election produced an overwhelming majority for the ministry. 

Refekences. Seignobos, Europe Since 181^, 123 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, Jlistoire Gcnerale, X, 121-122. 

The King has deemed it useful for the welfare of the .State 
to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and to order the general 
elections. 

The experience which you have acquired in affairs will 
not permit you to misunderstand the aim of that measure, and 
the knowledge which you have of the interests of France and 
of your duties will have long since appraised you of the zeal 
which you ought to display in order to assure the success of it. 
Instability cannot be an isolated accident in the State. 
When the systems of the Government change it soon descends 
to the lowest grades of the scale of public employments, and 
there is no functionary or magistrate, whatever may be his 
rank or his employment, who ought not to desire for himself 
that the general administration should receive and preserve a 
uniform and constant direction. 

On the other hand, sir, the Government confers public em- 
ployments only in order that it may be served and supported. 
Whoever accepts a place contracts at the same time an obliga- 
tion to consecrate his efforts, his talents, and his influence to 
the ser\ace of the Government : it is a contract of which re- 
ciprocity forms the bond. If the Government withdraws the 
place, the one who loses it recovers the right tO' dispose of 
himself and to regulate at his own will all the actions of his 
public life; if the functionary refuses to the Government the 
services which it expects of him, he betrays his fidelity and 
breaks voluntarily the compact of which the position that he 
fills has been the object and the condition. It is the most 
certain and the most irrevocable of abdications : the Gov- 
ernment owes nothing further to one who does not render to it 
all that he owes it. 

Make haste, sir, to recall these truths to your deputies, the 
officers of the judicial police and the ministerial officials of 



DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER 491 

your jurisdiction, all those, in a word, of whom the law has 
made you the overseer and guide. Say to them that I demand 
of them a loyal, active and effective co-operation. Prescribe 
for them a prudent and uniform conduct. Condemn without 
qualification all division in voting, of which the most certain 
effect would be to offer chances of success to the opposition. 
Announce to them that you v/ill be attentive to their proceed- 
ings, and be particular to fulfill that promise. I like to persuade 
myself that you will have only favorable reports to transmit 
to me, and that I myself shall have to transmit to them only 
thanks and eulogies. 

Receive, sir, assurance of a perfect consideration. 



103. Documents upon the Dissolution of 1830. 

The dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies in March, 1880, 
and the election that followed were the prelude to the July Revolu- 
tion. These documents bring out clearly the reason why Charles 
X dissolved the Chamber and the issue presented at the election, 
which was a complete triumph for the opposition to the King. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 364-368 (Popular ed., 
608-611); Seignobos, Europe Since 1811,, 128; Andrews, Modern 
Europe, I, 170-173 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoi/re Oenerale, X, 

278-282. 

A. The King's Speech. March 2, 1830. Moniteur, 
March 3, 1830. . 

Gentlemen : 

It is always with confidence that I gather around my 
throne the peers of the kingdom and the deputies of the de- 
partments. 



Gentlemen, the first longing is to see France, happy and 
respected, develop all the wealth of its soil and its industry and 
enjoy in peace the institutions whose advantages I have firmly 
determined to consolidate. The Charter has placed the public 
liberties under the safeguard of the rights of my crown : these 
rights are sacred; my duty towards my people is to transmit 
them intact to my successors. 

Peers of France and deputies of the departments, I do not 



492 DIS^SOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER 

doubt of your co-operation in order to secure the gain which 
I wish to effect; you will repulse the perfidious insinuations 
which malevolence seeks to propagate. If culpable maneuvers 
raise up against my Government obstacles which I do not wish 
to anticipate, I will find the power to surmount ithem in my 
resolution to maintain the public peace, in the just confidence 
of Frenchmen and the love which they have always borne for 
their Kings. 

B. Reply of the Chamber of Deputies. March i8, 1830. 
Moniteur, March 19, 1830. 

Sire, 

It is with an enduring gratification that your faithful sub- 
jects, the deputies of the 'departments, assembled around your 
throne, have heard from your august lips the flattering testi- 
mony of the confidence which you have accorded them. . . . 

Summoned by your voice from all points of your king- 
dom, we bring you from all parts, Sire, the homage of a 
faithful people, once more aroused at having seen you the most 
beneficent of all in the midst of universal beneficence, and who 
revere in you the accomplished model of all the most touch- 
ing virtues. Sire, this people cherish <and respect your author- 
ity; fifteen years of peace and of liberty, which they owe to 
your august brother and to you, have profoundly enrooted 
in their hearts the gratitude which attaches them to your royal 
family; their reason, matured by experience and by liberty of 
discussion, says to them that it is especially in matters of 
authority that antiquity of possession is the most sacred of 
all titles, and that it is for their welfare as well as for your 
glory that the ages have placed your throne in a region inac- 
cessible to storms. Their convictions, then, are in accord with 
their duty in placing before themselves the most sacred rights 
of your Crown as the surest guarantee of their liberties and 
the integrity of your prerogatives as necessary for the pres- 
ervation of these rights. 

Neverthless, Sire, in the midst of the unanimous sentiments 
of respect and affection with which your people surround you, 
there is manifested in their minds a lively disquietude which 
disturbs the security that France had commenced to enjoy, 
affects the sources of its prosperity, and, if it should be pro- 



DISSOLUTION OP THE CHAMBER 



493 



longed, might become disastrous to its repose. Our conscience, 
our 'honor, the fidehty to you which we have sworn and which 
we shall always preserve, impose upon us the duty of disclos- 
ing to you the cause of this. 

Sire, the Charter, which we owe to the wisdom of your 
august predecessor, and the advantages of which Your Majesty 
is firmly determined to consolidate, consecrate, as a right, the 
participation of the country in the deliberation upon public 
interests. That participation ought to be, it is in effect, in- 
direct, wisely measured and circumscribed within limits 
exactly traced, and which we shall never suffer that anyone 
should attempt to break; but it is positive in its results; 
for it is made by the permanent co-operation of the 
political views of your Government with the wishes of your 
people, the indispensable condition of the regular progresiS 
of public affairs. Sire, our loyalty and our devotion to you 
condemn us to tell you that this co-operation does not exist. 

An unjust contempt for the sentiments and the reason of 
France is to-day the fundamental thought of the Administra- 
tion. Your people are afflicted thereat, because it is injurious 
to them; they are disturbed thereat, because it is menacing to 
their liberties ! 

This contempt could not proceed from your noble heart. 
No, Sire, France no more wishes for anarchy than you zvish 
for despotism; it is fitting thait you should have faith in its 
loyalty, as it has faith in your promises. 

Between those who misunderstand a nation so calm and so 
faithful and us who with a profound conviction come to set 
forth in your presence the grievances of a people envious above 
everything else for the esteem and confidence of their King, let 
the lofty wisdom oi your Majesty pronounce! His [your] 
royal prerogatives have placed in his [your] hands the means 
of assuring among the powers of the State that constitutional 
harmony the first and necessary condition of the power of the 
Throne and of the grandeur of France. 

C. Response of the King. March i8, 1830. Moniteur, 
March 19, 1830. 

Sir, I have heard the address which you present me in 
the name, of the Chamber of Deputies. 



494 DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER 

I have a right to count upon the co-operation of the two 
chambers in order to accomplish all of the good which I was 
meditating; my heart is afflicted at seeing the deputies of the 
departments declare that on their part that co-operation does 
not exist. 

Gentlemen, I have announced my determinations in my 
discourse at the opening of the session. Those determin- 
ations are immovable; the interest of my people forbids me to 
depart therefrom. 

My ministers will make known to you my intentions. 

D. Proclamation of the King. June 13, 1830. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXX, s6. 

Charles, by the grace of God, King of France and of Na- 
varre, to all those to whom these presents shall come, greet- 
ing. 

Frenchmen, 

The late Chamber of Deputies misconceived my intentions. 
I had the right to count upon its co-operation in order to ac- 
complish the good which I was meditating: it refused it to 
me ! As father of my people, my heart is afflicted thereat ; 
as King, I have been offended at it*: I have pronounced the 
dissolution of that chamber. 

Frenchmen, your prosperity constitutes my glory; your 
welfare is mine. At the moment in which the electoral col- 
leges are about to open at all points of my kingdom, you 
will hear the voice of your King. 

To maintain the Constitutional Charter and the institutions 
which it has founded has been and ever shall be the aim of 
my efforts. 

But, in order to attain that aim, I ought to exercise 
that judgment freely and to make respected the sacred rights 
which are the appanage of my crown. 

It is in them that the guarantee of the public repose and 
of your liberties lies. The nature of the Government would 
be altered, if culpable attacks should enfeeble my preroga- 
tives, and I would betray my oaths if I should suffer it. 

Under the shelter of this Government, France has become 
flourishing and free. She owes to it her liberties, her credit 
and her industry. France has nothing to envy in other States, 



JULY REVOLUTION 



495 



and can aspire only to the preservation of the advantages 
which she enjoys. 

Reassure yourselves then about your rights. I blend them 
with mine, and I will prota:t them with an equal solicitude. 

Do not allow yourselves to be led astray through the lan- 
guage of the insidious enemies of your repose. Repel un- 
worthy suspicions and false fears, which would disturb public 
confidence and might excite grave disorders. 

The designs of those who propagate these fears will fail, 
whoever they may be, before my immovable resolution. Your 
security and your interests shall no more be compromised 
than your liberties ; I watch over the one as over the others. 

Electors, make haste to gather in your colleges. Do not 
let a reprehensible negligence deprive them of your presence ! 
Let a single sentiment animate you, let a single flag rally you ! 

It is your King who asks it of you ; it is a father who calls 
you. 

Fulfil your duties; I shall know how to fulfil mine. 

Given at our chateau of the Tuileries, the 13th day of the 
month of June of the year of grace 1830, and of our reign the 
sixth. 

Signed, Charles. 

104. Documents upon the July Revolution. 

The July Revolution passed through three quite distinct phases. 
In the first phase it was simply a protest against the July Ordi- 
nances and the popular cries were "Vive la GJiarta/' "Down with 
the ministers." In the second phase it became a movement for the 
overthrow of the Bourbon Monarchy and the popular cry was 
"Down with the Bourbons." In the third phase it became a move- 
ment to make Louis Philippe king and the popular cry was ''Vive 
Louis Philippe." Documents A, B and C throw light upon the 
first phase, the remainder upon the third phase. From the docu- 
ments much can be learned about the causes for the unpopularity 
of the Bourbon regime, why the candidacy of Louis Philippe was 
favorably received and the real character of the change effected 
by the revolution. 

Refeuexces. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 3G8-379 (Popular ed., 
(jll-618) ; Seignobos, Europe Since ISU, 129-132 ; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Europe, I, 173-179 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, 
X, 282-292. 

A, The July Ordinances. July 25, 1830. Duvergier, Lois, 
XXX, 74-78.' 



496 



JULY REVOLUTION 



I. Ordinance for Suspending Liberty of the Press. 

Charles, etc. 

Upon the report of our council of ministers, 

We have ordained and do ordain as follows : 

1st. The liberty of the periodical press is suspended. 

2d. The provisions of articles i, 2, and 9 of the ist title 
of the law of October 21, 1814, are again put in force. 

In consequence, no newspaper or periodical or semi-peri- 
odical work, established or to be established, without discrim- 
ination as to the matters which shall be treated therein, shall 
appear, either In Paris or in the departments, except in virtue 
of an authorisation, which the authors and the printer thereof 
shall have separately obtained from us. 

This authorisation must be renewed every three months. 
- It can be revoked. 

3d. The authorisation can be provisionally granted and 
provisionally withdrawn by the prefects for newspapers and 
periodicals or semi-periodical works published or to be pub- 
lished in their departments. 

4th. Newspapers and works published in contravention of 
article 2, shall be immediately seized. 

The presses and the type which shall have been used for 
their printing shall be placed in a public repository und-er 
seals or be put out of service. 

5th. No work of less than twenty printed sheets can ap- 
pear without the authorisation of our Minister-Secretary of 
State of the Interior at Paris, and of the prefects In the 
departments. 

Any work of more than twenty printed pages which does 
not constitute a connected work, shall likewise be subject to 
the necessity of authorisation. 

Works published without authorisation shall ^be immediate- 
ly seized. 

The presses and type which shall have been used for 
their printing shall be placed in a public repository under 
seal or put out of service. 

6th. Proceedings upon law suits and the transactions of 
scientific or literary societies are subject to prior authorisa- 
tion, if they treat In whole or in part of political matters, in 



JULY REVOLUTION 497 

^w:1iich case the measures prescribed in article 5 shall be 
applicable to them. 

7th. Any provision contrary to the present [provisions] 
shall remain without force. 

8th. The execution of the present ordinance shall take 
place in conformity with article 4 of the ordinance of No- 
vember 27, 1816, and 0)f what is prescribed by that of January 
18, 1817. , 

9th. Our Ministers-Secretaries of State are changed, etc. 

II. Ordinance for Dissolving the Chamber of Deputies. 
Charles, etc. 

In view of article 50 of the Constitutional Charter; 

Being informed of the maneuvers which have been prac- 
tised at many points in our kingdom in order to deceive and 
mislead the electors during the late operations of the electoral 
colleges ; 

Our Council having been heard; 

We have ordained and do ordain as follows : 

1st. The Chamber of Deputies of the departments is dis- 
solved. 

2d. Our Minister-Secretary of State of the Interior 
(Count de Peyronnet) is charged, etc. 

III. Ordinance upon the Elections. 
Charles, etc. 

Having resolved to prevent the recurrence of the maneuvers 
which have exercised a pernicious influence during the late 
proceedings of the electoral bodies ; 

Wishing, therefore, to reform, in accordance with the 
principles of the Constitutional Charter, the rules of election 
of which experience has made the inconveniences felt; 

We have recognized the necessity of making use of the 
right which belongs to us, to provide, by acts emanating from 
us, for the safety of the State and for the repression of any 
enterprise attacking the dignity of our crown; 

For these reasons. 

Our Council having been heard, 

We ordain and do ordain as follows: 

I St. In conformity with articles 15, 36 and 50 of the Con- 
stitutional Charter, the Chamber of Deputies shall be com- 
posed only of deputies of the departments. 



498 JULY REVOLUTION 

2d. The electoral property qualification and the property 
qualification for eligibility shall be composed exclusively 
of the sums for which the elector or eligible person shall be 
personally enrolled, in the capacity of proprietor or usufruc- 
tuary upon the roll of the land tax and of the personal prop- 
erty tax. 

3d. Each department shall have the number of deputies 
which is assigned to it by article 36 of the Constitutional 
Charter. 

4th. The deputies shall be elected and the chamber shall 
be renewed in the form and for the time determined by article 
yj of the Constitutional Charter, 

5th. The electoral colleges shall be divided into district col- 
leges and department colleges. 

Nevertheless the electoral colleges of the departments to 
which only one deputy is assigned are excepted. 

6th. The district electoral colleges shall be composed of all 
the electors whose political residence shall be established in 
the district. 

The department electoral colleges shall be composed of the 
fourth of the electors of the department who are most heavily 
taxed. * 

7th. The existing circumscription of the district electoral 
colleges is maintained. 

8th. Each district electoral college shall elect a number 
of candidates equal to the number of the deputies of the de- 
partment. 

9th. The district college shall be divided into as many sec- 
tions as there are candidates to be selected. 

This division shall be made in proportion to the number 
of sections and to the total number of electors of the college, 
having regard therein, as far as shall be possible, to the con- 
venience of the localities and of the neighborhoods. 

loth. The sections of the district electoral college can be 
assembled in different places. 

nth. Each section of the district electoral college shall 
elect one candidate and shall proceed separately. 

I2th. The presidents of the sections of the district electoral 
colleges shall be appointed by the prefects from among the 
electors of the district. 



JULY REVOLUTlOiN 499 

13th. The department electoral college shall elect the dep- 
uties. 

Half the deputies of the department must be chosen from 
the general list of the candidates proposed by the district 
electoral colleges. 

Nevertheless, if the number of deputies of the department 
is odd, the division shall be made without abatement of the 
right reserved to the college of the department. 

14th. In the case where, by reason of omissions, invaHd 
nominations, or double nominations, the list of candidates pro- 
poi&ed by the electoral bodies of the district may be incom- 
plete, if this list is reduced to less than half the required num 
ber, the department electoral college can elect one more deputy 
from outside of the list; if the list is reduced to less than a 
quarter, the department college can elect from outside of the 
list the total number of the deputies of the department. 

15th. The prefects, sub-prefects and general officers com 
manding the military divisions and the departments cannot 
be elected in the departments in which they exercise their func- 
tions. 

i6th. The list of the electors shall be drawn up by the 
prefect in the council of prefecture. It shall be posted five 
days before the meeting of the colleges. 

17th. Complaints witn regard to the right of voting to 
which justice has not been done by the prefects shall be judged 
by the Chamber of Deputies, at the same time that it decides 
on the validity of the proceedings of the college. 

i8th. In the department electoral colleges the two most 
aged electors and the two most heavily taxed shall discharge 
the duties of tellers. 

The same arrangement shall be observed in the sections 
of the district colleges composed of more than fifty electors. 

In the other college sections the duties of teller shall be 
■discharged by the most aged and by the most heavily taxed 
of the electors. 

The secretary in the colleges and college sections shall be 
appointed by the president and the tellers. 

19th. Nobody shall be admitted into the college or college 
section, unless he is registered upon the list of the electors 
who have a right to participate therein. This list shall be sent 



500 



JULY REVOLUTION 



to the president and shall remain posted in the place of the 
meetings of the college during the continuance of its pro- 
ceedings. 

20th. All discussion and all deliberation whatsoever in the 
midst of the electoral colleges shall be forbidden. 

2ist. The policing of the college belongs to the president. 
Without his request no armed force can be stationed near the 
place where the sittings are held. Military commanders shall 
be required to comply with his requests. 

22d. The nominations shall be made in the colleges and 
college sections by a majority of the votes cast. 

Nevertheless, if the selections are not decided after two 
ballots, the bureau shall draw up a list of the persons 
who shall have obtained the most votes at the second ballot. 
It shall contain a number of names double that of the selec- 
tions which shall still remain to be made. At the third 
ballot votes can be given only for the persons enrolled upon 
this list, and the selection shall be made by plurality. 

23d. The electors shall vote by ballot. Each ballot shall 
contain as many names as there are selections to be made. 

24th. The electors shall write their vote at the desk or 
shall have it written there by one of* the tellers. 

25th. The name, title and domicile of each voter who shall 
deposit his ballot shall be entered by the secretary upon a 
list intended to authenticate the number of voters. 

26th. Each ballot shall remain open for six hours and shall 
be canvassed forthwith. 

27th. A record shall be drawn up for each sitting: this 
record shall be signed by all the members of the bureau. 

28th. In conformity with article 46 of the Constitutional 
Charter, no amendment to any law can be made in the Cham- 
ber, unless it has been proposed or consented to by us, and 
unless it has been sent back to and discussed in the bureaux. 

29th. Any provisions contrary to the present ordinance 
shall remain without force. 

30th. Our Ministers-Secretaries of State are charged, etc. 

IV. Ordinance for Convoking the Electoral Colleges. 

Charles, etc. 

In view of the royal ordinance, dated this day, relative to 
the organization of the electoral colleges; 



JULY REVOLUTION 



501 



Upon the report of our Minister-Secretary of State of the 
department of the Interior; 

We have ordained and do ordain as follows : 

1st. The electoral colleges shall meet as follows : the dis- 
trict electoral colleges September 6th next and the depart- 
ment electoral colleges the 13th of the same month. 

2d. The Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies 
of the departments are convoked for the 28th of the month 
of September next. 

3d. Our Minister- Secretary of State of the Interior (Count 
de Peyronnet) is charged, etc. 

B. Protest of the Paris Journalists. July 26, 1830. La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, X, 283. 

The legal regime is interrupted, that of force is begun. 
The Government has violated legality, we are absolved from 
obedience. We shall attempt to publish our papers without 
asking for the authorisation which is imposed upon us. The 
Government has to-day lost the character which commands 
obedience. We are resisting it in that which concerns us; it 
is for France to decide how far its own resistance must ex- 
tend. 

C. Protest of the Paris Deputies. July 27, 1830. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XXX, 81. 

The undersigned, regularly elected [to the Chamber of 
Deputies] and at present in Paris, consider themselves ab- 
solutely obliged by their duty and their honor to protest 
against the measures which the councillors of the crown 
have recently made to prevail for the overthrow of the legal 
system of elections and the ruin of the liberty of the press. 

The said m.easures, contained in the ordinances of July 25, 
are, in the eyes of the undersigned, directly contrary to the 
constitutional rights of the Chamber of Peers, to the public 
law of the French, to the prerogatives and decrees of the 
tribunals and calculated to throw the whole State into a con- 
fusion which would compromise both present peace and fu- 
ture security. 

In consequence, the undersigned, inviolably faithful to their 
oath, protest with one accord, not only against the said meas- 



502 



JULY REVOLUTION 



ures, but also against all the acts which may be the conse- 
quence of them. 

And seeing, on the one hand, that the Chamber of Dep- 
uties, not having been constituted, cannot be legally dissolved ; 
and on the other hand that the attempt to form another Chamr 
ber of Deputies by a new and arbitrary method is an formal 
contradiction to the Constitutional Charter and the acquired 
rights of the electors, the undersigned declare that they 
still consider themselves as legally elected to the deputation 
by the district and department colleges whose suffrages they 
have obtained, and that they cannot be replaced except in 
virtue of elections conducted according to the principles and 
forms determined by the laws. 

And if the undersigned do not effectively exercise the 
rights and do not discharge all the duties which spring from 
their legal election, it is because they have been prevented from 
so doing by physical violence. 

[Signatures.] 

D. Thiers' Orleanlst Manifesto. July 30, 1830. Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoirc Generale, X, 287-288. 

Charles X can no longer return to Paris : he has caused 
the blood of the people to flow. The Republic would expose 
us to frightful divisions : it would embroil us with Europe. 
The Duke of Orleans is a prince devoted to the cause of the 
Revolution. The Duke of Orleans did not fight againist us. 
The Duke of Orleans was at Jemmapes. The Duke of Orleans 
is a citizen king. The Duke of Orleans has borne the tricolors 
with ardor. The Duke of Orleans alone can again bear 
them ; we do not wish for any others. The Duke of Orleans 
does not declare himself. He awaits our will. Let us 
proclaim that will, and he will accept the Charter as we have 
always understood and wanted it. It is from the French peo- 
ple that he will hold the crown. 

E. Proclamation of the Deputies. July 31, 1830. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XXX, 84-85. 

- Frenchmen, 
France is free. The absolute power was raising its flag; 
the heroic population of Paris overthrew it. Paris attacked 



JULY REVOLUTION 503 

has made to triumph in arms the sacred cause which in the 
elections had just triumphed in vain. A power, the usurper 
of our rights and the disturber of our repose, wais threat- 
ening at the same time order and liberty; we re-enter into 
possession of order and liberty. No 'more fear for acquired 
rights ; no further barrier between us and the rights which 
we still lack. 

A government which, without delay^ will guarantee us 
these blesisings is to-day the first need of the fatherland. 
Frenchmen, those of your deputies who happen to be already 
at Paris have assembled; and, while awaiting the regular 
action of the Chambers, they have invited a Frenchman who 
has never fought except for France, Monsieur, the Duke of 
Orleans, to exercise the functions of Lieutenant-General of 
the Kingdom. This is in their eyes the surest method to peace- 
fully complete the success of most lawful defence. 

The Duke of Orleans is devoted to the national and con- 
stitutional cause; he has always defended its interests and 
professed its principles. He will respect our rights, for he 
will hold his from us. We shall assure ourselves by laws 
all the necessary guarantees in order to render liberty strong 
and durable : 

The re-establishment of the National Guard, with the par- 
ticipation of the National Guards in the choice of the officers ; 

The participation of the citizens in the formation of the 
department and municipal administrations; 

The jury for press offences ; 

Legally organized responsibility of ministers and the sub- 
ordinate agents of the administration ; 

The status of military men legally assured ; 

The re-election of the deputies promoted to public offices. 

Finally, we shall in concert with thfe Head of the State give 
to our institutions the development which they need. 

Frenchmen, the Duke of Orleans himself has already 
spoken, and his language is that which befits a free country, 
"The Chambers are about to meet," he tells you, ''they will 
deliberate upon the means to assure the reign of the laws 
and the maintenance of the rights of the nation." 

"The Charter shall henceforth be a reality." 

Were present Messrs : 



504 JULY REVOLUTION 

[Here follow the names of eighty-nine deputies,] 

R Proclamation by Louis-Philippe. August i, 1830. 
Moniteiir, August 2, 1830. 

Inhabitants of Paris, 

The Deputies of France, at this moment assembled in Paris, 
have expressed to me a desire that I should proceed into 
this capital in order to exercise here the functions of Lieu- 
tenant-General of the Kingdom. 

I have not hesitated to come to share your dangers, to 
place myself in the midst of your heroic population, and to 
use all my endeavors to preserve you from the calamities of 
civil war and of anarchy. 

In re-entering the city of Paris, I bear with pride the 
glorious colors which you have resumed and which I have 
myself for a long time borne. 

The Chambers are about to convene and will deliberate 
upon the means to assure the reign of the laws and the 
maintenance of the rights of the nation. 

The Charter shall henceforth be a reality. 

Louis-Philippe d'Orleans. 

G. Abdication of Charles X. August 2, 1830. Duvergier, 
Lois, XXX, 87-88. 

My cousin, I am too profoundly pained at the evils which 
aijElict or which may threaten my people not to have sought 
a method of preventing them. I have, therefore, taken the 
resolution to abdicate the crown in favor of my grandson, the 
Duke of Bordeaux. 

The Dauphin, who shares my feelings, also renounces his 
rights in favor of his nephew. 

You will have, therefore, in your capacity of Lieutenant- 
General of the kingdom, to cause to be proclaimed the ac- 
cession of Henry V to the crown. You will in addition 
take all the measures which concern you in order to regulate 
the forms of the Government during the minority of the 
new King. Here I confine myself to making known these 
arrangements; it is indeed a method to still escape evils. 

You will communicate my intentions to the diplomatic 
corps, and you will make known to me as soon as possible the 



JULY REVOLUTION 505 

proclamation by which my grandson will be recognized under 
the name of Henry V. 

I charge Lieiitenant-General Viscount de Foissac-Latour 
to bring this letter to you. He has orders to come to an 
understanding with you about the arrangements to be taken 
in favor of the persons who have accompanied me, as well 
as about suitable arrangements for what concerns me and the 
remainder of my family. 

We shall regulate afterwards the other measures which are 
the consequence of the change of reign. 

I renew to you, my cousin, the assurance of the sentiments 
with which I am your affectionate cousin, 

Signed, Charles, Louis-Antoine. 

H. Declaration of the Chamber of Deputies. August 7, 
1830. Duvergier, Lois, XXX, 93-101. 

The Chamber of Deputies, taking into consideration the 
imperative necessity which results from the events of July 
26, 27, 28, 29 and the days following and the general .situation 
in which France is placed in consequence of the violation of 
the Constitutional Charter ; 

Considering besides that, in consequence of that violation 
^nd of the heroic resistance of the citizens of Paris, His 
Majesty Charles X, His Royal Highness Louis-Antoine, 
Dauphin, and all the members of the elder branch of the 
royal house have at this moment left French territory; 

Declares that the throne is vacant in fact and in right, 
and that it is indispensable to provide therefor. 

The Chamber of Deputies declares secondly that. 

In accordance with the wish and in the interest of the 
French people, the preamble of the Constitutional Charter is 
suppressed, as wounding the national dignity, in appearing 
to grant to Frenchmen the rights which essentially belong 
to them, and that the following articles of the same Charter 
must be suppressed or modified in the manner which is 
about to be indicated. 



[These changes may be ascertained by comparison of Nos. 
97 and 109.] 



5o6 



JULY REVOLUTION 



Special Provisions, 

All the nominations and new creations of peers made 
during the reign of Charles X are declared null and void. 

Article 27 of the Charter shall be subjected to a new ex- 
amination in the session of 183 1. 

The Chamber of Deputies declares thirdly, 

That it is necessary to provide successively, by separate 
laws and within the shortest possible space, for the objects 
which follow : 

1st. The use of the jury for offences of the press 
and for political offences ; 

2d. The responsibility of ministers and other agents of 
authority ; 

3d. The re-election of deputies promoted to salaried public 
offices ; 

4th. The annual vote of the army contingent ; 

5th. The organization of the National Guard, with the 
participation of the National Guards in the choice of their 
officers ; 

6th. Provisions which assure in a legal manner the status 
of army and navy officers of every grade ; 

7th. Departmental and municipal institutions founded upon 
an elective system ; 

8th. Public instruction and liberty of education;; 

9th. The abolition of the double vote and the fixing of 
the electoral and eligibility conditions; 

loth. To declare that all the laws and ordinances, in 
whatever they contain contrary to the provisions adopted for 
the reform of the Charter, are and shall remain annulled 
and abrogated. 

On condition of the acceptance of these provisions and 
propositions, the Chamber of Deputies declares finally that 
the universal and pressing interest of the French people 
calls to the throne His Royal Highness Louis-Philippe 
d'Orleans, Duke of Orleans, Lieutenant-General of the King- 
dom, and his descendants in perpetuity, from male to male, 
by order of primogeniture to the perpetual exclusion of women 
and their descendants. 

In consequence. His Royal Highness Louis-Philippe d'Or- 



CONSTITUTION OF 1830 c^qj 

leans shall be invited to accept and to swear to the clauses 
and engagements above set forth, the observation of the Con- 
stitutional Charter and the modifications indicated, and after 
having done it before the assembled Chambers, to take the 
title of King of the French. 

Resolved at the palace of the Chamber of Deputies, August 
7, 1830. 



105. Constitution of 1830. 

August 14, 1830. Duvei-gier, Lois, XXX, 110-114. 

This constitution should be carefully compared with the Con- 
stitutional Charter of 1S14 (No. 93) of which it is a revision. The 
difference in the theories upon which the two documents are 
based calls for particular notice. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, II, 379-381 (Popular ed., 
618-619) ; Andrews, Modern Europe, I, 277-279 ; Seignobos, Europe 
Since ISI4, 132-134 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, X, 
290-291. 



Louis-Philippe, King of the French, to all present and 
to come, greeting. 

We have ordered and do order that the Constitutional 
Charter of 1814, such as it has been amended by the two 
Chambers on August 7th and accepted by us on the 9th, 
shall be again published in the following terms : 

PUBLIC LAW OF THE FRENCH. 

1. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may 
be their titles and ranks. 

2. They contribute, without distinction, in proportion 
to their fortunes, towards the expenses of the State. 

3. They are all equally admissible to civil and military 
employments. 

4. Their personal property is likewise guaranteed ; no one 
can be prosecuted or arrested save in the cases provided by 
law and in the form which it prescribes. 

5. Everyone may profess his religion with equal freedom 
and shall obtain for his worship the same protection. 

6. The ministers of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman 



5o8 CONSTITUTION OF 1830 

religion, professed by the majority of the French, and those 
of the other Christian sects, receive stipends from the State. 

7. Frenchmen have the right to pubhsh and to have 
printed their opinions, while conforming with the laws. 

The censorship can never be re-established. 

8. All property is inviolable, without any exception for 
that which is called national, the law making no distinction 
between them, 

9. The State can require the sacrifice of a property on 
account of a legally established public interest, but with a 
previous indemnity. 

10. All investigations of opinions and votes given prior 
to the restoration are forbidden : the same oblivion is required 
frem the tribunals and from citizens. 

11. The conscription is abolished. The method of re- 
cruiting for the army and navy is determined by the law. 

Forms of the Government of the King. 

12. The person of the King is inviolable and sacred. His 
ministers are responsible. To the King alone belongs the 
executive power. 

13. The King is the supreme head of the State; he com- 
mands the land and sea forces, declares war, makes treaties 
of peace, alliance and commerce, appoints to all places of 
public administration, and makes the necessary rules and or- 
dinances for the execution of the laws, without the power 
ever to suspend the laws themselves or to dispense with their 
execution. 

Moreover, no foreign troops can be admitted into the ser- 
vice of the State except in virtue of a law. 

14. The legislative pewer is exercised collectively by the 
King, the Chamber of Peers, and the Chamber of Deputies. 

15. The proposal of laws belongs to the King, the Cham- 
ber of Peers, and the Chamber of Deputies. 

Nevertheless every taxation law must be first voted by 
the Chamber of Deputies. 

16. Every law shall be freely discussed and voted by the 
majority of each of the two chambers. 

17. If a project of law has been rejected by one of the 
three powers, it cannot be presented again in the same session. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1830 509 

18. The King alone sanctions and promulgates the laws. 

19. The civil list is fixed for the entire duration of the 
reign by the first legislature assembled after the accession of 
the King. 

Of the Chamber of Peers. 

20. The Chamber of Peers is an essential part of the leg- 
islative power. 

21. It is convoked by the King at the same time as the 
Chamber of Deputies. The session of the one begins and ends 
at the same time as that of the other. 

22. Every meeting of the Chamber of Peers which may 
be held outside of the time of the session of the Chamber of 
Deputies is unlawful and of no validity, except the single 
case in which it is assembled as a court of justice, and then it 
can exercise only judicial functions. 

23. The appointment of peers of France belongs to the 
King. Their number is unlimited : he can at his pleasure alter 
their dignities, appoint them for life, or make them hereditary. 

24. Peers have entrance to the Chamber at twenty-five 
years of age, and a deliberative voice only at thirty years. 

25. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the Chan- 
• cellor O'f France, and, in his absence, by a peer appointed by 

the King. 

26. The princes of the blood are peers by right of their 
birth : they sit directly behind the president, 

27. Tbe sittings of the Chamber of Peers are public, as 
are those of the Chamber of Deputies. 

28. The Chamber of Peers has jurisdiction over crimes of 
high treason and the attacks against the security of the State, 
which shall be defined by law. 

29. No peer can be arrested except by the authority of 
the Chamber, nor be tried except by it in a criminal matter. 

Of the Chamber of Deputies. 

30. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the 
deputies elected by electoral colleges whose organization shall 

,be determined by law. 

31. The deputies are elected for five years. 

32. N© deputy can be admitted to the Chamber unless he 



510 



CONSTITUTION OF 1830 



is thirty years of age and meets the other qualifications de- 
termined by the law. 

32. If, however, there cannot be found in the department 
fifty persons of the required age who pay the amount of taxes 
determined by the law, their number shall be filled up from 
the largest tax-payers below this amount of tax, and these 
shall be elected together with the first. 

34. No one is an elector, unless he is at least twenty-five 
years of age and meets the other conditions determined by the 
law. 

35. The presidents of the electoral colleges are chosen by 
the electors. 

36. At least one-half oi the deputies shall be chosen from 
among the eligibles who have their political domicile in the 
department. 

37. The president of the Chamber of Deputies is elected 
by it at the opening of each session. 

38. The sittings oi the Chamber are public; but the re- 
quest of five members suffices for it to form itself into secret 
committee. 

39. The Chamber divides itself into bureaux in order to 
discuss the propositions which have been presented to it by 
the King. 

40. No tax can be imposed or collected, unless it has been 
consented to by the two Chambers and sanctioned by the 
King. 

41. The land-tax is consented to only for one year. In- 
direct taxes can be established for several years. 

42. The King convokes the two Chambers each year: 
he prorogues them and can dissolve that of the deputies ; 
but in that case he must convoke a new one within the .space 
of three months. 

43. No bodily constraint can be exercised against a mem- 
ber of the Chamber during the session nor in the preceding 
or following six weeks. 

44. No member of the Chamber, during the course of the 
session, can be prosecuted or arrested upon a criminal charge, 
unless he should be taken in the act, except after the Cham- 
ber has permitted his prosecution. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1830 



5" 



45. No petition can be made or presented to cither of the 
Chambers except in writing: the law forbids the bringing of 
them in person to the bar. 

Of the Ministers. 

46. The ministers can be members of the Chamber of 
Peers or the Chamber of Deputies. 

They have, besides, their entrance into either Chamber and 
must be heard when they demand it. 

47. The Chamber of Deputies has the right to accuse the 
ministers and to arraign them before the Chamber of Peers, 
v/hich alone has that of trying them. 

Of the Judiciary. 

48. All justice emanates from the King: it is administered 
in his name by judges whom he appoints and whom he invests. 

49. The judges appointed by the King are irremovable. 

50. The courts and regular tribunals actually existing are 
continued; none of them can be changed except by virtue of 
a law. 

51. The existing commercial court is retained. 

52. The justice of the peace, likewise, is retained. Justices 
of the peace, although appointed by the King, are not irremov- 
able. 

S3- No one can be deprived of the jurisdiction of his nat- 
ural judges. 

54. In consequence, extraordinary commissions and trib- 
unals cannot be created, under any title or under any denom- 
ination whatsoever. 

55. Criminal trials shall be public unless .such publicity 
would be dangerous to order and morality; and, in that case, 
the tribunal shall declare it by a judicial order. 

56. The system of juries is retained. Changes which a 
longer experience may cause to be thought necessary can be 
made only by a law. 

57. The penalty of confiscation of property is aholished 
and cannot be re-established. 

58. The King has the right of pardon and that of com- 
muting penalties. 

59. The Civil Code and the laws actually existing which 
are not in conflict with the present Charter remain in force 
until legally abrogated. 



512 



CONSTITUTION OF 1830 



Special Rights Guaranteed by the State. 

60. Persons in active mihtary service, retired officers and 
soldiers, pensioned widows, officers and soldiers, retain their 
ranks, honors and pensions. 

61. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of en- 
gagement made by the State with its creditors is inviolable. 

62. The old nobility resume their titles, the new retain 
theirs. The King makes nobles at will ; but he grants to them 
only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the "bur- 
dens and duties of society. 

63. The Legion of Honor is maintained. The King shall 
determine its internal regulations and its decoration. 

64. The colonies are regulated b}^ special laws. 

65. The King and his successors shall swear, at their ac- 
cession in the presence of the assembled Chambers, to ob- 
serve faithfully the Constitutional Charter. 

66. The present Charter and all the rights that it conse- 
crates stand entrusted to the patriotism and the courage of 
the National Guards and of all French citizens. 

67. France resumes its colors. For the future, no other 
cockade shall be worn than the tricolor cockade. 

Special Provisions. 

68. All the new appointments and creations of peers made 
during the reign of Charles X are declared null and void. 

Article 23 of the Charter shall be submitted to a new ex- 
amination in the session of 1831. 

69. The following subjects shall be provided for suc- 
cessively by separate laws within the shortest possible space of 
time : 

ist. The use of the jury for pohtical and press offences; 

2d. The responsibility of the ministers and the other agents 
of the [executive] power ; 

3d. The re-election of deputies appointed to public func- 
tions with salaries ; 

4th. The annual vote of the quota of the army; 

5th. The organization of the National Guards, with the 
pairticipation of the National Guards in the choice of their 
officers ; 



LAW UPON ELECTIONS 



513 



6th. Provisions which assure in a legal manner the status 
of the officers of every grade in the army and navy; 

7th. Departmental and municipal institutions founded 
upon an elective system ; 

8th. Public instruction and the liberty of teaching; 

9th. Abolition of the double vote and fixing of the elec- 
toral and eligibility conditions. 

70. All laws and ordinances, wherein they are contrary to 
the provisions adopted for the reform of the Charter, are forth- 
with and shall remain annulled and abrogated. 

We command all our courts and tribunals, administrative 
bodies, ajid all others that they keep and maintain, cause to be 
kept, observed and maintained the present Constitutional 
Charter, and to make it more known to all, that they cause 
it to be published in all the municipalities of the kingdom and 
y^vherever there shall be need ; and in order that this may 
he. firm and .stable forever, we have caused our seal to be af- 
fixed thereto. 

Done at the Palais Royal at Paris, the 14th day of the 
month of August, in the year 1830. 

Signed, Louis- Philippe. 



106. Law upon Elections. 

April 19, 1831. Duvergier, Lois, XXXI, 211-244. 

Under the Bourbon Monarchy the tax-paying qualification for 
membership in the Chamber of Deputies was one thousand francs 
per annum and for the exercise of the suffrage three hundred 
francs. When the Constitutional Charter was revised there had 
been an informal understanding that these qualifications should 
shortly be revised. This law was enacted in fulfillment of that 
understanding and remained unchanged throughout the entire pe- 
riod of the July Monarchy. It raised the number of voters from 
about 94,000 to about 188,000. The population of Prance was ap- 
proximately thirty millions. In connection with this measure 
notice should be taken of the laws of 1831 upon the Chamber of 
Peers, municipal government, and the organization of the National 
Guards. The tonv constitute ,a sort of supplement to the Constitu- 
tion of 1830. 

Reference. Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, X, 377- 
.378. 

TITLE I. OF ELECTORAL CAPACITIES. 

I. Every Frenchman enjoying civil and political rights, 
17 



514 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



fully twenty-five years of age, and paying two hundred francs 
of direct taxes is an elector, if he fulfils the other conditions 
fixed by the present law. 



TITLE IV. OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES. 

38. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of four hundred 
fifty-nine deputies. 

39. Each electoral college elects only one deputy. 

The number of the deputies of each department, and the 
division of the departments into electoral districts, are reg- 
ulated by the annexed table, making part of the present law. 

40. The electoral colleges are convoked by the King. They 
meet in the city of the electoral or administrative district 
which the King designates. They cannot occupy themselves 
with other matters than the election of the deputies ; all dis- 
cussion and all deliberation are forbidden to them. 

TITLE V. OF ELIGIBLES. 

59- No one shall be eligible to the Chamber of Deputies, 
if, at the day of his election, he is not thirty years of age, 
and if he does not pay five hundreli francs of direct taxes, 
saving the case provided for by article 33 of the Charter. . 



107. Proclamations and Decrees of the Provisional 
Government of 1848. 

The provisional government of 1848 exhibited prodigious activ- 
ity in the promulgation of proclamations and decrees. These few- 
are intended to show how some of the great problems were dealt 
with and the ideas of the period. Documents A, C and H bear 
upon the problem of the form of government which should succeed 
the July Monarchy. Documents B, D, E and F show what was. 
done to meet the demands of the Socialists. Documents F and I 
illustrate the manner in which the maxim Liberty, Equality, Fra- 
ternity, was applied. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Etirope, III, 34-37 (Popular ed., 
728-731); Seignobos, Europe Since 18U', 159-162; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Europe, 1, 342-352 ; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in 
Modern France, 168-185, passim; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
Generale, XL 10-17. 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



515 



A. Proclamation of the Overthrow of the July Monarchy. 
February 24, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 49-56. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

A retrograde and oligarchical government has just been 
overthrown by the heroism of the people of Paris. That gov- 
ernment has fled, leaving behind it a trail of blood that forbids 
it to ever retrace its steps. 

The blood of the people has flowed as in July; but this 
time this generous people shall not be deceived. It has 
conquered for a national and popular government in harmony 
with the rights, the progress, and the will of this great and gen- 
erous people. 

A provisional government, issuing from acclamation and 
urgency by the voice of the people and of the deputies of the 
departments, in the sitting of February 24, is for the moment 
invested with the task of assuring and organizing the national 
victory. It is composed of: 

MM. Dupont (de I'Eure), Lamartine, Cremieux, Arago 
(of the Institute), Ledru-Rollin, Gamier-Pages, Marie, Ar- 
mdmd Marrast, Louis Blanc, Ferdinand Flocon, and Albert, 
workingman. 

These citizens have not hesitated a moment to accept the 
patriotic commission which is imposed upon them by the pres- 
sure of necessity. When the capital of France is on fire the 
warrant of the provisional government is in the public safety. 
All France will understand this and will lend to it the help of 
its patriotism. Under the popular government which proclaims 
the provisional government every citizen is a magistrate. 

Frenchmen, give to the world the example which Paris ha? 
given to France; prepare yourselves by order and confidence 
in yourselves for the solid institutions which you are about to 
be called upon to give yourselves. 

The provisional government resolves to have the Republic, 
subject to ratification by the people, who shall be immediately 
consulted. 

The unity of the nation, constituted henceforth of all the 
classes of citizens who compose it; the government of the na- 
tion by itself; 



5i6 PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 

Liberty, equality, and fraternity for principles, tlie people 
for emblem and watch-word, that is the democratic government 
which France owes to itself and which our efforts shall be di- 
rected to securing for it. 

B, Declaration Relative to Workingmen. February 25, 
1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 59- 

The provisional government of the French Republic engages 
to guarantee the existence of the workingman by labor ; 

It engages to guarantee labor to all citizens ; 

It recognizes that workingmen ought to enter into associa- 
tions among themselves in order to enjoy the advantage of their 
labor. 

The provisional government returns to the workingmen, to 
whom it belongs, the million which was about to fall due upon 
the civil list. 

C. Proclamation of the Republic. February 26, 1848. Du- 
vergier, Lois, XLVIII, 60. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

Citizens, ^ 

Royalty, under whatever form it may take, is abolished. 

No more legitimism, no more Bonapartism, no regency. 

The provisional government has taken all the measures 
necessary to render impossible the return of the former dy- 
nasty and the advent of a new dynasty. 

The Republic is proclaimed. 

The people are united. 

All the forts which surround the capital are ours. 

The brave garrison of Vincennes is a garrison of brothers. 

Let us preserve that old republican flag whose three colors 
made with our fathers the tour of the world. 

Let us show that this symbol of equality, of liberty, and of 
fraternity, is at the same time the symbol of order, and of order 
the more real, the more durable, .since justice is its foundation 
and the whole people its instrument. 

The people have already understood that the provisioning of 
Paris requires a freer circulation in the streets of Paris, and 
the hands which erected the barricades have in several places 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



517 



made in these barricades an opening large enough for the free 
passage of transportation wagons. 

Let this example be followed everywhere ; let Paris resume 
its accustomed appearance and commerce its activity and its 
confidence; let the people at the same time look to the main- 
tenance of their rights, and let them continue to assure, as they 
have done until now, the public tranquility and security. 

D. Decree for Establishing National Workshops. February 
26, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 60. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

The provisional government of the Republic 
Decrees the immediate establishment of national workshops. 
The minister of public works is charged with the exe- 
cution of the present decree. 

E. Proclamation and Order for the Luxembourg Commis- 
sion. February 26, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 62. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

Considering that the revolution, made by the people, ought 
to be made for them ; 

That it is time to put an end to the long and iniquitous suf- 
ferings of the laboring men ; 

That the labor question is one of supreme importance ; 

That there is none higher and more worthy of the attention 
of a republican government; 

That it belongs especially to France to study intensely and 
to solve a problem propounded today to all the industrial na- 
tions of Europe ; 

That it is necessary without the least delay to see to the 
guaranteeing to the people the legitimate fruits of their labor, 

The provisional government of the Republic resolves: 

A permanent commission, which shall be called the Gov- 
ernment Commission for the Workingmen, is about to be 
appointed with the express and special mission of occupy- 
ing itself with their condition. 

In order to show what importance the provisional govern- 
ment of the Republic attaches to the solution of this great 
problem, it appoints as president of the Government Commis- 
sion for the Workingmen one of its members, M Louis Blanc, 



5i8 PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 

and for vice-president another of its members, M. Albert, 
workingman. 

Workingmen shall be summoned to make up part of the 
commission. 

The seat of the commission shall be at the Luxembourg 
Palace. 

F. Decree for Abolishing Titles of Nobility. February 29, 
1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 64. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

The provisional government, 

Considering : 

That equality is one of the three grand principles of the 
French Republic ; that, in consequence, it ought to receive 
an immediate application, 

Decrees : 

All the former titles of nobility are abolished ; the desig- 
nations which were connected with them are interdicted; they 
cannot be taken in public nor figure in any public document. 

G. Decree upon Labor. March 2, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, 
XLVIII, 67. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

Upon the report of the Government Commission for the 
Workingmen, 
Considering : 

1. That too prolonged manual labor ruins the health of 
the worker, but even more, in preventing him from cultivating 
his intelligence, impairs the dignity of man; 

2. That the exploitation of the workers by the working- 
men who are sub-contractors, called marchandeurs or tach- 
erons, is essentially unjust, vexatious, and contrary to the 
principle of fraternity; 

The provisional government of the Republic decrees : 

1. The working day is diminished by one hour. In 
consequence, at Paris, where it was eleven hours, it is reduced 
to ten; and in the country where it has been until now 
twelve hours, it is reduced to eleven ; 

2. The exploitation of the workers by the sub-contractors 
or marchandase is abolished. 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 519 

It is understood that the associations of workers which 
have not for their purpose the exploitation of workers by 
each other are not considered as marchandage. 

H. Decree for the National Assembly. March 5, 1848. 
Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 70-71- 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

The provisional government of the Republic, 

Wishing to transfer as soon as possible to the hands of 

a definitive government the powers which it exercises in the 

interest and by the command of the people, 
Decrees : 

1. The cantonal electoral assemblies are convoked for 
the ninth of April next in order to elect the representatives 
of the people who shall decree the Constitution. 

2. The election shall have population for its basis. 

3. The total number of the representatives of the people 
shall be nine hundred, including Algeria and the French 
colonies. 

4. They shall be apportioned among the departments in the 
proportion indicated in the table annexed. 

5. The suffrage shall be direct and universal. 

6. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age, residing in the 
commune for six months past, and not judicially deprived 
nor suspended from the exercise of civic rights, are electors. 

7. All Frenchmen twenty-five years of age and not de- 
prived or suspended from civic rights are eligible [to the 
National Assembly]. 

8. The ballot shall be secret. 

9. All the electors shall vote at the head-town of their 
cantons by scrutin de lisie. 

Each ballot shall contain as many names as there shall 
be representatives to elect in the department. 

The counting of the votes shall take place at the head- 
town of the canton and the verification at that of the de- 
partment. 

No one can be chosen representative of the people if he 
does not obtain two thousand votes. 

10. Each representative of the people shall receive a 



520 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECREES 



compensation of twenty-five francs per day during the con- 
tinuance of the session. 

11. An instruction of the provisional government shall 
.regulate the details of the execution of the present decree. 

12. The National Constituent Assembly shall be opened 
on April 20. 

13. The present decree shall be immediately sent into the 
departments and published and posted in all the communes of 
the Repubhc. 

I. Decree upon Slavery. April 27, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, 
XLVIII, 194. 

The provisional government, considering that slavery is an 
outrage against human dignity ; that in destroying the free will 
of man it sets aside the natural principles of right and duty ; 
that it is a flagrant violation of the republican dogma, Lib- 
erty, Equality, Fraternity ; considering that if effective meas- 
ures did not follow very closely the proclamation already 
made, of the principle of abolition, the most deplorable dis- 
orders in the colonies might result from it, 

Decrees : 

1. Slavery shall be entirely abolished in all the French 
colonies and possessions two months after the promulgation 
of the present decree in each of them. From the promulga- 
tion of the present decree in the colonies, all corporal punish- 
ment and all sale of persons not free shall be absolutely for- 
bidden. 

2. The system of contracts for a term of years in Senegal 
is suppressed. 

3. The governors and general commissioners of the Re- 
public are charged to apply the whole of the measures ap- 
propriate tO' secure liberty to Martinique, Guadeloupe and 
dependencies, the island of Reunion, Guiana, Senegal and other 
French settlements on the west coast of Africa, the island of 
Mayotta and dependencies, and in Algeria. 

4. Former slaves condemned to afflictive or correctional 
penalties for deeds which imputed to free men would not 
have entailed that punishment are amnestied. The persons de- 
ported by administrative act are recalled. 



PETITION OF THE 16TH OF APRIL 



521 



5. The National Assembly shall determine the amount of 
the indemnity which shall be granted to the colonists. 

6. The colonies freed from .servitude and the possessions 
in India shall be represented in the National Assembly. 

7. The principle that the soil of Frence liberates the slave 
who touches it applies to the colonies and the possessions of 
the Republic. 

8. For the future, even in a foreign country, it is forbidden 
to every Frenchman to possess, to buy or to sell slaves, or 
to participate, either directly or indirectly, in any traffic or 
exploitation of that kind. Any infraction of these provisions 
shall entail the loss of title to French citizenship. Nevertheless, 
the French who shall find themselves affected by these pro- 
hibitions at the moment of the promulgation of the present 
decree shall have a period of three years in which to conform 
to them. Those who shall become the possessors of slaves in 
foreign countries by inheritance, gift or marriage, shall, under 
the same penalty, liberate or alienate them within the same 
period from the day whereon their possession shall have com- 
menced. 



108. Petition of the 16th of April. 

April 16, 1848. Moniteur, April 17, 1848. 

This petition was presented to ttie provisional government by 
one of the monster demonstrations organized by the Socialists for 
the purpose of bringing about a postponement of the elections for 
the Constituent Assembly. It exhibits in concise form some of the 
general demands of the Socialists. 

Reference. Lavisso and Rambaud, Hictoire Generate, XI, 14- 
15. 

The Wo^rkingmen of the Department of the Seine to the 
Provisional Governmen t. 

Citizens, 

Reaction raises its head; calumny, that favorite weapon of 
men without principles and without honor, from every side 
pours its contagious venom upon the true friends of the 
people. It is to us, men of the revolution, men of action and 



522 DECLARATION UPON THE REPUBLIC 

devotion, that it belongs to declare to the Provisional Gov- 
ernment that the people wish the Democratic Republic; that 
the people wish the abolition of the exploitation of man by 
man; that the people wish the organization of labor through 
association. 

Vive la Republique! Vive le Gouvernment provisiore! 



109. Declaration upon the Republic. 

May 4, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 278. 

When the National Assembly met on May 4, 1848, this declar- 
ation was proposed by the representatives of the department of 
the Seine and adopted unanimously. 

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

The National Assembly, as faithful interpreter of the .sen- 
timents of the people who have just selected it, before be- 
ginning its labors, declares, 

In the name of the French people, and in the face of the 
entire world, that THE REPUBLIC, proclaimed February 
24, 1848, is and shall remain th^ form of government of 
France. 

The Republic which France chooses has for its motto : Lib- 
erty, Equality, Fraternity. 

In the name of the fatherland, the National Assembly con- 
jures all Frenchmen, of all opinions, to forget former dis- 
sensions and to constitute henceforth but a single family. The 
day on which the representatives of the people meet is for all 
citizens the festival of concord and fraternity. Vive LA RE- 
PUBLIQUE. 



110. Constitution of 1848. 

November 4, 1848. Duvergier, Lois, XLVIII, 560-609. 

This constitution was drafted and promulgated by the National 
Assembly of 1848. It should be studied from two standpoints : 
(1) as a theoretical frame of government; (2) with reference to 
the political situation of France in 1848. Particular notice should 
be taken of the manner in which its two fundamental principles, 
popular sovereignty and separation of the powers, are lapplied. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 



523 



Refeeences. Seignobos, Europe Since ]8U, 164-165 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, I, 357-362 ; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction 
in Modem France, 200-201 ; Tocqueville, Recollections, Part II, 
Ch. XI ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XI, 20-22. 

The National Assembly has adopted, and in conformity 
with article 6 of the decree of October 28, 1848, the Pres- 
ident of the National Assembly promulgates the following 
Constitution : 

Preamble. 

in the presence of god, and in the name of the french 

people, the national assembly proclaims : 

I. France is constituted a Republic. In definitely adopt- 
ing that form of government, it proposes for its aim to move 
more freely in the path of progress and civilization, to assure 
a more and more equitable distribution of the burdens and ad- 
vantages of society, to increase the comfort of each person 
by large reductions in the public expenditures and taxes, and 
without new commotion, through the successive and constant 
action of institutions and laws, and to cause every one to 
reach a degree of morality, enlightenment and well-being con- 
stantly becoming more elevated. 

II. The French Republic is democratic, one and indivisible. 

III. It recognizes rights and duties existing before and 
superior to positive laws. 

IV. It has for its maxim liberty, equality and fraternity. 
It has for its basis the family, labor, property, and public 

order. 

V. It respects foreign nationalities, as it intends to cause 
its own to be respected; it does not undertake any war for 
the purpose of conquest, and it never employs its forces against 
the liberty of any people. 

VI. Reciprocal duties bind the citizens to the Republic, 
and the Republic to the citizens. 

VII. The citizens ought to love the fatherland, to serve 
the Republic, to defend it at the price of their lives, and to 
share the expenses of the State in proportion to their fortunes ; 
they ought to secure for themselves, by labor, means of 
subsistence, and, by foresight, resources for the future; they 
ought to contribute to the common well-being by fraternally 
co-operating with one another, and to the general order by ob- 



524 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 



r 



serving the moral and the written laws which control society, 
the family, and the individual. 

VIII. The Republic ought to protect the citizen in his 
person, his family, his religion, his property, his labor, and to 
put within the reach of each person the education indispensable 
for all men; it is bound to assure by fraternal assistance the 
m.aintenance of indigent citizens, either by furnishing work 
to them within the limits of its resources, or, in the absence 
of the family, by giving assistance to those who are unable to 
work. 

For the purpose of fulfilling all these duties and for a 
guarantee of all these rights, the National Assembly, faithful 
to the traditions of the great assemblies which inaugurated the 
French Revolution, decrees as follows, the Constitution of the 
Republic. 

Constitution, 
chapter i. of the sovereignty, 

1. Sovereignty resides in the totality of the French citizens. 
It is inalienable and imprescriptible. 

No individual nor any part of the people can claim for 
themselves the exercise thereof. 

CHAPTER 11. RIGHTS OF THE CITIZENS GUARANTEED BY THE 
CONSTITUTION. 

2. No one can be arrested or held in custody except accord- 
ing to the provisions of the law. 

3. The dwelling-place of every person living on French 
soil is inviolable; it can be entered only according to the forms 
and in the cases provided by law. 

4. No one shall be removed from the jurisdiction of his 
natural judges. 

No extraordinary commissions or tribunals can be created 
under any title or denomination whatsoever. 

5. The death penalty for political offences is abolished. 

6. Slavery cannot exist upon any French soil. 

7. Every person may freely profess his religion, and receive 
from the State, for the exercise of his worship, an equal pro- 
tection. 

Ministers, either of the sects now recognized by law or of 
those which may be recognized in the future, have the right 
to receive a stipend from the State. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 



525 



8. Citizens have the right to form associations, to assem- 
ble peaceably and without arms, to petition, and to express 
their opinions by means of the press or otherwise. 

The exercise of these rights has for limits only the rights 
and the liberty of others and the public security. 

The press cannot in any case be subjected to the censorship. 

9. Instruction is free. 

The liberty of instruction is exercised according to the 
conditions of capacity and morality that are determined by 
law and under the oversight of the State. 

This oversight extends to all establishments for education 
and instruction, without any exception. 

10. All citizens are equally eligible to all public employ- 
ments, without any other grounds for preference than their 
own merits, and according to the conditions that shall be fixed 
by the laws. 

All titles of nobility, all distinctions of birth, of class or 
of caste are forever abolished. 

11. All property is inviolable. Nevertheless, the State can 
demand the sacrifice of a property on the ground of a legally 
established public utility, and by furnishing a just and prior 
indemnity. 

12. The confiscation of property can never be re-established. 

13. The Constitution guarantees to citizens liberty of labor 
and of industry. 

Society favors and encourages the development of la- 
bor by gratutitous primary education, professional edu- 
cation, equality of relations between the employer and the 
workingman, institutions of savings and of credit, agricul- 
tural institutions, voluntary associations, and the establishment 
by the State, the departments and the communes of public 
works suitable for the employ ment of unemployed hands ; it 
furnishes assistance to abandoned children, the infirm, and the 
aged that are without resources and whose families cannot 
relieve them. 

14. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of en- 
gagement made by the State with its creditors is inviolable. 

15. Every tax is imposed for the common utility. 

Each person contributes thereto in proportion to his means 
and his fortune. 



526 CONSTITUTION OF 1848 

i6. No tax can be imposed or collected except by virtue of 
the law. 

17. Direct taxation is consented to only for one year. 
Indirect taxes can be consented to for several years. 

CHAPTER III. OF THE PUBLIC POWERS. 

18. All the public powers, whatever they may be, spring 
from the people. 

They cannot be delegated hereditarily. 

19. The separation of the powers is the fundamental prin- 
ciple of a free government. 

CHAPTER rV. OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

20. The French people delegate the legislative power to a 
single Assembly. 

21. The total number of the representatives of the people 
sftall be seven hundred and fifty, including the representatives 
of Algeria and the French colonies. 

22. This number shall be increased to nine hundred for 
the assemblies which shall be called to alter the Constitution. 

23. The basis for election is population. 

24. The suffrage is direct and universal. The ballot is 
secret. 

25. All Frenchmen, twenty-one years of age and enjoying 
their civil and political rights, are electors, regardless of prop- 
erty. 

26. All electors twenty-five years of age, regardless of 
their domicile, are eligible to election. 

27. The electoral law shall determine the causes which can 
deprive a French citizen of the right to elect and to be elected. 

It shall designate the citizens who, exercising or having ex- 
ercised functions in a. department or a territorial jurisdiction, 
cannot be elected there. 

28. Every remunerated public employment is incompatible 
with the commission of representative of the people. 

No member of the National Assembly, during the continu- 
ance of the legislature, can be appointed or preferred for pub- 
lic salaried employments of which the incumbents are chosen 
at will by the executive power. 

The exceptions to the provisions of the two preceding para- 
graphs shall be determined by the organic electoral law. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 



527 



29. The provisions of the preceding articles are not ap- 
plicable to the assemblies elected to alter the Constitution. 

30. The election of the representatives shall be by depart- 
ments and by scrutin de liste. 

The electors shall vote in the head-town of the canton; 
nevertheless, on accoimt of local conditions, the canton can be 
divided into several districts, in the form and upon the con- 
ditions that shall be determined by the electoral law. 

31. The National Assembly is elected for three years, and 
is renewed in a body. 

At least forty-five days before the end of the legislature, a 
law determines the time of the new elections. 

If any law does not intervene within the limit fixed by the 
preceding article, the electors meet of perfect right upon the 
thirtieth day preceding the end of the legislature. 

The new Assembly is convoked of perfect right for the 
morrow of the day upon which the commission of the preced- 
ing Assembly expires. 

2,2. It is permanent. 

Nevertheless, it can adjourn for a period that it shall fix. 

During the continuance of the prorogation, a commission, 
composed of members of the bureau and of twenty-five mem- 
bers appointed by the Assembly through secret hallot and ma- 
jority vote has the right to convoke it in case of urgency. 

The President of the Republic also has the right to con- 
voke the Assembly. 

The National Assembly determines the place of its meet- 
ings. It determines the extent of the military forces provided 
for its security, and it controls them. 

ZZ- Representatives are always re-eligible. 

34. Members of the National Assembly are the representa- 
tives, not of the department which selects them, but of all 
France. 

35. They cannot receive imperative instructions. 

36. The representatives of the people are inviolable. 
They cannot be questioned, accused nor condemned at any 

time for opinions that they have expressed in the National 
Assembly. 

2,7. They cannot be arrested upon a criminal charge, un- 



528 CONSTITUTION OF 1848 

less taken in the act, nor prosecuted except after the Assem- 
bly has authorised the prosecution. 

In case of the arrest of one taken in the act, it shall be 
forthwith referred to the Assembly, which shall authorise or 
forbid the continuance of the prosecution. This provision 
applies to the case in which a citizen under arrest is elected 
representative. 

38. Each representative of the people receives a salary 
which he cannot refuse. 

39. The sittings of the Assembly are public. Nevertheless, 
the Assembly can form itself into secret committee, upon the 
demand of the number of representatives fixed by the rule. 

Each representative has the right of parliamentary initi- 
ative ; he shall exercise it according to the forms determined 
by the rule. 

40. The presence of half plus one of the members of the 
Assembly is necessary for the valid enactment of laws. 

41. No proposal for a law, unless in case of urgency, shall 
be voted definitively except after three deliberations at inter- 
vals which cannot be less than five d^ys. 

42. Every proposal whose purpose is to declare urgency 
is preceded by a .statement of reasons. 

If the Assembly agrees to give effect to the proposal of ur- 
gency it orders the reference thereof to the bureaux and fixes 
the time at which the report upon the urgency shall be pre- 
sented. 

Upon this report, if the Assembly recognizes the urgency, 
it declares it, and fixes the time of the discussion. 

If it decides that there is no urgency, the proposal follows 
the course of ordinary propositions. 

CHAPTER v. OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER. 

43. The French people delegate the executive power to 
a citizen who receives the title of President of the Republic. 

44. The President must be French born, at least thirty 
years of age, and never have lost the quality of Frenchman. 

45. The President of the Republic is elected for four 
years and is re-eligible only after an interval of four years. 

Furthermore, neither the Vice-President, nor any of the 
kinsmen or connections of the President to the sixth degree 
inclusive, can be elected after him. 



CONSTITUTION OP 1848 ^29 

46. The election takes place with perfect right upon the 
second Sunday of the month of May, 

In case, owing to death, resignation or any other cause, 
the President should be elected at any other time, his powers 
shall expire upon the second Sunday of the month of May 
of the fourth year following his election. 

The President is selected, through secret ballot and ma- 
jority of the votes, by the direct vote of all the electors of the 
French departments and of Algeria. 

47. The minutes of the electoral proceedings are trans- 
mitted immediately to the National Assembly, which decides 
without delay upon the validity of the election and proclaims 
the President of the Republic. 

If no candidate has obtained more than half of the vote 
cast, and at least two million votes, or if the conditions pre- 
scribed by article 44 are not fulfilled, the National Assembly 
elects the President of the Republic, by absolute majority and 
secret ballot, from among the five eligible candidates who have 
received the most votes. 

48. Before entering upon his duties, the President of the 
Republic in the presence of the National Assembly takes the 
following oath : 

In the presence of God and before the French people, 
represented by the National Assembly, I swear to remain 
faithful to the democratic Republic one and indivisible, and 
to fulfil all the duties that the Constitution imposes upon me. 

49. He has the right to cause propositions of law to be 
presented by his ministers to the National Assembly. 

He supervises and secures the execution of the laws. 

50. He disposes of the armed force, without power ever 
to command in person. 

51. He cannot cede any portion of the territory, nor dis- 
solve or prorogue the National Assembly, nor suspend in 
any way the absolute authority of the Constitution and the 
laws. 

52. He presents each year, in a message to the National 
Assembly, a statement of the general condition of the affairs 
of the Republic. 

^2,- He negotiates and ratifies treaties. 



530 



CONSTITUTION OP 1848 



No treaty is definitive until after it has been ratified by the 
National Assembly. 

54. He watches over the defence of the State, but he can- 
not undertake any war without the consent of the National 
Assembly. 

55. He has the right to pardon, but he can exercise 
this right only after taking the opinion of the Council of 
State. 

Amnesties can be accorded only by a law. 

The President of the Republic, and the ministers, as well 
as all other persons condemned by the High Court of Justice, 
can be pardoned only by the National Assembly. 

56. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
in the name of the French people. 

57. The laws of urgency are promulgated within a period 
of three days, and the other laws within a period of one month 
counting from the day on which they shall have been adopted 
by the National Assembly. ♦ 

58. Within the period fixed for promulgation, the Pres- 
ident of the Republic, by an explanatory message can request a 
new consideration. 

The Assembly deliberates ; its resolution becomes definitive ; 
it is transmitted to the President of the Republic. 

In that case, the promulgation takes place within the time 
fixed for laws of urgency. 

59. In default of promulgation by the President of the Re- 
public, within the periods required by the preceding articles, 
the President of the Assembly shall provide for it. 

60. Envoys and ambassadors of foreign powers are ac- 
credited to the President of the Republic. 

61. He presides at national solemnities. 

62. He is housed at the expense of the Republic and re- 
ceives a salary of six hundred thousand francs per annum. 

63. He resides in the place in which the National As- 
sembly sits, and cannot leave the continental territory of the 
Republic withou.t being authorised thereto by a law. 

64. The President of the Republic appoints and dismisses 
the ministers. 

He appoints and dismisses, in council of the ministers, 



CONSTITUTION OP 1848 



531 



the diplomatic agents, the commanders-in-chief of the army 
and the navy, the prefects, the superior commandant of the 
National Guards of the Seine, the governors of Algeria and 
the colonies, the procureurs-general and other officials of high 
rank. 

He appoints and dismisses, upon the proposal of the proper 
minister and according to the regular conditions determined 
by law, the subordinate agents of the government. 

65. He has the right to suspend, for a term that cannot 
exceed three months, the agents of the executive power elected 
by the citizens. 

He can dismiss them only upon the advice of the Council 
of State. 

The law determines the cases in which dismissed agents 
can be declared ineligible for the same employments. 

This declaration of ineligibility can be pronounced only 
by a judicial order. 

66, The number of the ministers and their prerogatives 
are fixed by the legislative power. 

(dj. The acts of the President of the Republic, except those 
by W'hicli he appoints and dismisses ministers, are not valid 
unless they are countersigned by a minister. 

68. The President of the Republic, the ministers, and the 
agents and depositories of public authority axe responsible, 
each in that which concerns him, for all the acts of the 
government and the administration. 

Every measure by which the President of the Republic dis- 
solves the National Assembly, prorogues it or places an ob- 
stacle to the exercise of its commission, constitutes the crime 
of high treason. 

By this act alone, the President is stripped of his func- 
tions; the citizens are required to refuse him obedience; the 
executive power passes with perfect right to the National As- 
sembly. The judges of the High Court of Justice meet im- 
mediately upon pain of forfeiture: they convoke the jurors in 
the place that they designate, or in order to proceed to the 
trial of the President and his accomplices; they themselves 
designate the public officers who shall be charged with per- 
fcrming the functions of the public ministry. 



532 CONSTITUTION OF 1848 

A law shall determine the other cases of responsibility, as 
well as the forms and the conditions of the prosecution, 

69. The ministers have admission to the body of the 
National Assembly; the)^ are heard whenever they demand it, 
and can have the assistance of commissioners appointed by 
a decree of the President of the Republic. 

70. There is a Vice-President of the Republic appointed 
by the National Assembly out of three candidates presented 
by the President within the month that follows his election. 

The Vice-President takes the same oath as the President. 

The Vice-President cannot be chosen from among the 
kinsmen and connections of the President to the sixth degree 
inclusive. 

In case of the disability of the President, the Vice-President 
acts for him. 

If the presidency becomes vacant by death, resignation of 
the President, or otherwise an Election for president takes 
place within a month. 

CHAPTER VI. OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. 

71. There shall be a Council of State of which the Vice- 
President of the Republic shall be president ex-officio. 

72. The members of this council are appointed for six 
years by the National Assembly. They are renewed by a 
half within the first three months of each legislature through 
secret ballot and majority. 

They are re-eligible indefinitely. 

y2,- Those of the members of this Council who have been 
taken from the body of the National Assembly shall be re- 
placed immediately as representatives of the people. 

74. The members of the Council of State can be dis- 
missed only by the Assembly and upon the proposal of the 
President of the Republic. 

75. The Council of State is consulted upon the Gov- 
ernment's proposals for lawis, which, according to law, must 
be previously submitted for its examination, and upon projects 
of parliamentary initiative which the Assembly shall have 
submitted to it. 

It prepares the regulations for public administration ; it 
makes only those of these rules for which the National As- 
sembly has given a special commission. 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 533 

It exercises over the public administrations all the powers 
of control and supervision which are conferred upon it by 

law. 

The law shall determine its other duties. 

CT-IAPTER VII. OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 

"jd. The division of the territory into departments, dis- 
tricts, cantons and communes is retained. The present limits 
can be changed only by a law. 

']'j. There are: ist. In each department, an administration 
composed of a prefect, a council-general and council of pre- 
fecture ; 

2d. In each district, a sub-prefect; 

3d. In each canton, a cantonal council; nevertheless only 
one cantonal council shall be established in cities divided into 
several cantons ; 

4th. In each commune, an administration composed of a 
mayor, assistants and a municipal council. 

78. A law shall determine the composition and the prerog- 
atives of the councils-general, the cantonal councils, and the 
municipal councils and the manner of selecting the mayors 
and the assistants. 

79. The councils-general and the municipal councils are 
elected by the direct vote of all the citizens domiciled in the 
department or the commune. Each canton elects one member 
of the council-general. 

A special law shall regulate the mode of election in the 
department of the Seine, in the city of Paris, and in cities 
of more than twenty thousand souls. 

80. The councils-general, the cantonal councils and the 
municipal councils can be dissolved by the President of the 
Republic upon the advice of the Council of State. The law 
shall fix the period within which a new election shall be 
held. 

CHAPTER VIII. OF THE JUDICIAL POWER. 

81. Justice is administered gratuitously in the name of the 
French people. 

Trials are public, unless publicity would be dangerous to 
order or morality; and in that case the tribunal declares it 
by a judicial order. 



534 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 



82. The jury shall continue to be employed in criminal 
trials. 

Ss. Jurisdiction over all political offences and all offences 
committeed by means of the press belongs exclusively to the 
jury. 

Organic laws shall determine the jurisdiction in the matter 
of criminal libels against individuals. 

84. The jury alone decides upon the damages claimed for 
acts or offences of the press. 

85. The justices of the peace and their substitutes, the 
judges of first instance and of appeal, the members of the 
Court of Cassation and the Court of Accounts are appointed 
by the President of the Republic, according to an order of 
candidature or conditions which shall be regulated by or- 
ganic laws. 

86. The magistrates of the public ministry are appointed 
by the President of the Republic. 

87. The judges of first instance and of appeal, the meni- 
1)ers of the Court of Cassation and of the Court of Accounts 
are appointed for life. 

They cannot be dismissed or suspended except by a ju- 
dicial order, nor retired except for the causes and in the 
forms determined by the laws. 

88. The councils of war and of revision for the army and 
nav3% the maritime tribunals, the tribunals of commerce, the 
trade councils and other special tribunals retain their or- 
ganization and existing prerogatives until they have been 
altered by a law. 

89. Conflicts of jurisdiction between the administrative 
and judicial authorities shall be regulated by a special tribunal 
of members of the Court of Cassation and Councillors of 
State, selected every three years in equal number by their 
respective bodies. 

This tribunal shall be presided over by the Minister of 
Justice. 

90. Appeals for lack of jurisdiction and excess of power 
against the decrees of the Court of Accounts shall be car- 
ried before the magistracy of conflicts. 

91. A High Court of Justice decides, without appeal or 



CONSTITUTION OF 1848 535 

recourse in cassation, the accusation brought by the National 
Assembly against the President of the Republic or the min- 
isters. 

It likewise tries all persons accused of crimes, attempts 
or conspiracies against the internal or external isecurity of 
the State, whom the National Assembly shall have sent before 
it. 

Except in the case provided for by article 68, it cannot 
be assembled except by virtue of a decree of the National 
Assembly, which designates the city where the court shall 
hold its sittings. 

92. The High Court is composed of five judges and thirty- 
six jurors. 

Each year, within the first fifteen days of the month of 
November, the Court of Cassation appoints from among its 
members by secret ballot and majority vote the judges of 
the High Court, to the number of five, and two substitutes. 
The five judges called to sit choose their own president. 

The magistrates filling the functions of the public ministry 
are selected by the President of the Republic, and, in case of 
the accusation of the President -^r the ministers, by the 
National Assembly. 

The jurors, to the number of thirty-six, and four sub- 
stitute jurors, are taken from among the members of the 
councils-general of the departments. 

The representatives of the people cannot form part of them. 

9.3. When a decree of the National Assembly has ordered 
the formation of the High Court of Justice, and, in the case 
provided for by article 68 upon the requisition of the pres- 
ident or of one of the judges, the president of the Court of 
Appeal, and, in default of the Court of Appeal, the president 
of the tribunal of first instance of the judicial head-town of 
the department, draws by lot in public audience the name of a 
member of the council-general. 

94. Upon the day appointed for the trial if there are less 
than sixty jurors present, that number shall be completed by 
supplementary jurors drawn by lot by the president of the 
High Court from among the members of the council-general 
of the department in which the court shall sit. 



536 CONSTITUTION OF 1848 

95. Jurors who shall not have furnished a valid excuse 
shall be condemned to a fine of from one thousand to ten 
thousand francs, and deprivation of political rights for five 
years at most. 

96. The accused and the public prosecutor exercise the 
right of challenge as in other cases. 

97. The verdict of the jury that the accused is guilty can 
be rendered only by a two-thirds majority. 

98. In all cases of responsibility of the ministers; the 
National Assembly can, according to circumstances, send the 
accused minister before the High Court of Justice or before 
the ordinary tribunals for civil damages. 

99. The National Assembly and the President of the 
Republic can in all cases turn over the examination of the 
acts of any officer, other than the President of the Republic, 
to the Council of State, whose report is made public. 

100. The President of the Republic is amenable only to 
the High Court of Justice. 

With the exception of the case provided for by article 68. 
he cannot be prosecuted except upon the accusation brought 
by the National Assembly, and for crimes and offences which 
shall be determined by law. 

CHAPTER IX. OF THE PUBLIC FORCES. 

loi. The public forces are established to defend the State 
against its enemies abroad and to secure within the mainte- 
nance of order and the execution of the laws. 

It is composed of the National Guard and of the army and 
the navy. 

102. Every Frenchman, with the exceptions fixed by law, 
owes service to the army and the National Guard. 

The means by which a citizen may be freed from personal 
military service .shall be regulated by the law of recruiting. 

103. The organization of the National Guard and the 
constitution of the army shall be regulated by law. 

104. The public forces are of necessity obedient. 
No armed body can deliberate. 

105. The public forces employed to preserve internal order 
act only upon the requisition of the constituted authorities, 
according to the regulations determined by the legislative 
power. 



COIN^STITUl'ION OF 1848 537 

106. A b.w shall determine the cases in which the state 
of siege can be declared and shall regulate the forms and con- 
sequences of that measure. 

107. No foreign troops can be introduced upon French 
soil, without the previous consent of the National Assembly. 

CHAPTER X. SPECIAL PROVISIONS. 

108. The Legion of Honor is retained; its statutes shall 
be revised and put in harmony with the Constitution. 

109. The territory of Algeria and of the colonies is de- 
clared to be French territory, and shall be ruled by separate 
laws until a special law places them under the regime of 
the present Constitution. 

110. The National Assembly confides the safe-keeping of 
the present Constitution, and the rights which it consecrates, 
to the guardianship and patriotism of all the French. 

CHAPTER XI. OF THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

111. Whenever, in the last year of a legislature, the Na- 
tional Assembly shall have expressed the wish that the Con- 
stitution should be altered in whole or in part, such revision 
shall proceed in the following manner : 

The wish expressed by the Assembly shall be converted 
into a definitive decision only after three consecutive consid- 
erations, taken at intervals of a month .each, and by three- 
fourths of the votes cast. The number of voters must be at 
least five hundred. 

The Assembly of Revision shall be appointed only for 
three months. 

It must occupy itself only with the revision for which it 
shall have been convoked. 

Nevertheless, it can, in case of urgency, provide for nec- 
essary legislation. 

CHAPTER XII. TEMPORARY PROVISIONS. 

] 12. The provisions of the existing codes, laws and regu- 
lations, which are not in conflict with the present Constitu- 
tion, remain in force until they are legally altered. 

113. All the authorities constituted by the existing laws 
continue in the exercise of their functions until the promul- 
gation of organic laws affecting them. 

114. The law for the organization of the judiciary shall 



538 



THE COUP D'ETAT 



determine the special method of appointment for the first 
composition of the new tribunals. 

115. After the vote upon the Constitution, the National 
Constituent Assembly shall proceed to frame the organic laws 
whose drafting shall be determined by a special law. 

116. The first election of the President of the Republic 
shall occur in conformity with the special law passed by the 
National Assembly, October 28, 1848. 

111. Documents upon the Coup d'Etat of December 2, 1851. 

These documents throw light upon many features of the coup 
d'etat of December 2, 1851, and the plebiscite which followed it. 
Among the features that call for notice are: (1) the official ex- 
planation of the events and conditions which had led up to the 
coup d'etat; (2) the inducements offered in ord«r to procure ac- 
quiescence or approval ; (3) the fundamental principles of the gov- 
ernment about to be established ; (4) the change effected in the 
original scheme for conducting the plebiscite. All of these docu- 
ments were signed, Louis-Napoleon. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 171-177 (Popular ed., 
817-823); Seignobos, Eurojie Since 181h 170-172; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Europe, II, 27-37 ; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Mod- 
ern France, 212-218 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XI, 
32-35. 

A. Decree for Dissolving the National Assembly. Decem- 
ber 2, 1851. Duvergier, Lois, LI, 475. 

The President of the Republic decrees : 

1. The National Assembly is dissolved. 

2. Universal suffrage is re-established. The law of May 
31 is abrogated. 

3. The French people are convoked in their assemblies 
from December 14 to December 21 following. 

4. The state of siege is decreed within the extent of the 
1st military division. 

5. The Council of State is dissolved. 

6. The Minister of the Interior (M. de Morny) is 
charged, etc. 

B. Proclamation to the People. December 2, 1851. Du- 
vergier, Lois, LI, 475-476. 



THE COUP D'ETAT 



53") 



Frenchmen ! 

The present situation cannot last much longer. Each day 
that passes increases the dangers of the country. The As- 
sembly, which ought to be the firmest support of order, has 
become a centre of conspiracies. The patriotism of three 
hundred of its members was not able to arrest its fatal ten,- 
dencies. Instead of making laws in the general interest, it 
forges weapons for civil war ; it makes an attack upon the 
authority that I hold directly from the people; it encourages 
all the evil passions ; it puts in jeopardy the repose of France : 
I have dissolved it, and I make the whole people judge be- 
tween it and me. 

The Constitution, as you know, was made with the pur- 
pose of weakening in advance the power that you were about 
to confer upon me. Six million votes were a striking protest 
against it, nevertheless I faithfully observed it. Provoca- 
tions, calumnies, outrages, have found me unmoved. But now 
that the fundamental compact is no longer respected even 
by those who incessantly invoke it, and the men who have 
already destroyed two monarchies wish to bind my hands, in 
order to overthrow the Republic, it is my duty to defeat their 
wicked designs and to save the country by invoking the sol- 
emn judgment of the only sovereign that I recognize in France, 
the people. 

I make, therefore, a loyal appeal to the whole nation, and 
I say to you : If you wish to continue this state of uneasiness 
which degrades us and makes uncertain our future, choose 
another in my place, for I no longer wish an authority which 
is powerless to do good, makes me responsible for acts I 
cannot prevent, and chains me to the helm when I see the 
vessel 'Speeding toward the abyss. 

If, on the contrary, you still have confidence in me, give 
me the means to accomplish the great mission that I hold 
from you. 

This mission consists in bringing to a close the era of 
revolutions by satisfying the legitimate wants of the people 
and by protecting them against subversive passions. It con- 
sists, especially, in creating institutions that may survive men 



540 THE COUP D'ETAT 

and that may be at length foundations upon which something 
durable can be established. 

Persuaded that the instability of authority and the pre- 
ponderance of a single Assembly are permanent causes of 
trouble and discord, I submit to you the following funda- 
mental bases of a Constitution which the Assembhes will 
develop later. 

1st. A responsible chief selected for ten years; 

2d. Ministers dependent upon the executive power alone; 

3d. A Council of State composed of the most distinguished 
men to prepare the laws and to discuss them before the leg- 
islative body; 

4th. A legislative body to discuss and vote the laws, 
elected by universal suffrage without scrutin de liste which 
falsifies the election ; 

5th. A second assembly, composed of all the illustrious 
persons of the country, predominant authority, guardian of 
the fundamental compact and of the public liberties. 

This system, created by the First Consul at the beginning 
of the century, has already given to France repose and pros- 
perity; it will guarantee them tO' her again. 

Such is my profound conviction. If you share it, declare 
the fact by your votes. If, on the contrary, you prefer a gov- 
ernment without force, monarchical or republican, borrowed 
from I know not what past or from what chimerical future, 
reply in the negative. 

Thus, therefore, for the first time since 1804, you will vote 
with knowledge of the case, knowing well for whom and for 
what. 

If I do not obtain ,a majority of your votes I shall then 
bring about the meeting of a new Assembly, and I shall 
resign to it the mandate that I have received from you. 

But if you believe that the cause of which my name is 
the symbol, that is, France regenerated by the revolution of '89 
and organized by the Emperor, is always yours, proclaim it 
by sanctioning the powers that I ask of you. 

Then France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy, 
obstacles will be removed, rivalries will have disappeared, for 
all will respect, in the decision of the people, the decree of 
Providence. 



THE COUP D'ETAT 54! 

C. Proclamation to the Army. December 2, 1851. Du- 
vergier, Lois, LI, 476. 

Soldiers ! 

Be proud of your mission, you .shall save the fatherland, for 
I count upon you, not to violate the laws but to make respected 
the first law of the country, the national sovereignty, of 
which I am the legitimate representative. 

For a long time j^ou suffered, as I did, from obstacles that 
opposed them'selves to both the good which I wished to do for 
you and the demonstrations of your sympathy in my favor. 
Those obstacles are broken to pieces. The Assembly sought to 
make an attack upon the authority that I hold from the 
entire nation : it has ceased to exist. 

I make a loyal appeal to the people and the army, and I 
say to them : Either give me the means to assure your pros- 
perity, or choose another in my place. 

In 1830, as in 1848, you were treated as vanquished. After 
having flouted your heroic disinterestedness they disdain to 
consult your sympathies and views, although you are the 
elite of the nation. To-day, in this solemn moment, I desire 
that the army should make its voice heard. 

Vote, then, freely as citizens ; but as soldiers, do not forget 
that passive obedience to the orders of the head of the gov- 
ernment is the strict duty of the army, from the general to 
the soldier. It is for me, responsible for my actions before 
the people and posterity, to take the measures that seem to me 
indispensable for the public welfare. 

As for you, remain steadily within the rules of discipline 
and honor. By your impressive attitude help the country to 
express its will with calmness and reflection. Be ready to 
put down every attempt against the free exercise of the sov- 
ereignty of the people. 

Soldiers, I do not speak to you of the memories that my 
name recalls. They are graven upon your hearts. We are 
united by indissoluble ties. Your history is mine. For the 
past, there is between us community of glory and misfortune ; 
for the futui*e, there will be community of sentiments and 
resolutions for the repose and grandeur of France. 



•*^>... 



542 THE COUP D'ETAT 

D. First Decree for the Plebiscite. December 2, 1851. 
Duvergier, Lois, LI, 476-477. 

The President of the Republic, considering that sovereignty 
resides in the whole body of citizens, and that no fraction of 
the people can assume for itself the exercise of it; in view of 
the laws and regulations which have hitherto regulated the 
mode of appeal to the people, and especially the decrees of 
5 Fructidor, Year III, 24 and 25 Frimaire, Year VJII, the 
regulation of 20 Floreal, Year X, the senatus-consultum of 
28 Floreal, Year XII, decrees : 

1. The French people are solemnly summoned in their 
assemblies for the fourteenth of the present month of Decem- 
ber, in order to accept or reject the following plebiscite: 

"The French people desire the maintenance of the author- 
ity of Loids-Napoleon Bonaparte, and delegate to him the 
necessary powers in order to make a Constitution upon the 
bases proposed in his proclamation of December 2." 

2. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age and enjoying 
their civil and political rights are summoned to vote. 

3. Upon receipt of the present decree, the mayors of 
every commune shall open tvfo registers upon free paper, one 
of acceptance, the other of non-acceptance of the plebiscite. 

E. Second Decree for the Plebiscite. December 4, 1851, 
Duvergier, Lois, LI, 479. 

The President of the Republic, considering that the mode 
of election promulgated by the decree of the second of De- 
cember had been adopted under other circumstances as guar- 
anteeing the sincerity of election; but considering that the 
secret ballot actually carried out appears to better guarantee 
the independence of the votes ; considering that the essential 
object of the decree of the second of December is to obtain 
the sincere and free expression of the will of the people, 
decrees : 

Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the decree of the second of Decem- 
ber are modified as follows : 



THE COUP D'ETAT 



543 



Article 2. The election shall take place by universal suf- 
frage. All Frenchmen twenty-one years of age and enjoy- 
ing their civil and political rights are called upon to vote. 

Article 4. The ballot shall be open during the days of the 
twentieth and twenty-first of December, in the head-town of 
each commune, from eight a. m. to four p. m. The voting- 
shall be by secret ballot, yes or no, by means of a written or 
printed vote. 

F. Election Appeal. December 8, 1851. Duvergier, Lois, 
LI, 479-480. 

Frenchmen ! 

The disturbances are pacified. Whatever may be the de- 
cision of the people, society is saved. The first part of my 
task is accomplished. I know that the appeal to the nation, 
in order to terminate the conflict of parties, did not cause 
any serious risk to the public tranquility. 

Why should the people rise against me? 

If I no longer possess your confidence, if your ideas have 
changed, there is no need to shed precious blood; it suffices 
to deposit in the urn a contrary vote. 

I shall always respect the decision of the people. 

But until the nation shall have spoken, I shall not recoil 
before any effort nor before any sacrifice in order to defeat 
the attempts of the factions. This task, moreover, is made 
easy for me. 

On the one hand, it has been seen bow insensate it is 
to struggle against an army united by the ties of discipline and 
animated by the sentiment of military honor and by devotion 
to the fatherland. 

On the other hand, the calm attitude of the inhabitants 
of Paris, the reprobation with which they have stigmatized the 
riot, have testified decisively enough for whom the capital 
pronounces : 

In those populous quarters, where but lately insurrection 
recruited itself so quickly among the workingmen susceptible 
to its allurements, anarchy this time was able to encounter 
only a profound repugnance for those detestable excitements. 



544 



CONSTITUTION OF 1852 



Let thanks for this be rendered to the intelligent and patri- 
otic population of Paris ! Let it persuade itself more and mor« 
that my only ambition is to assure the repose and prosperity 
of France. 

Let it continue to lend its assistance to authority, and soon 
the country will be able to carry through with calmness the 
solemn act which must inaugurate a new era for the Republic. 



112. Constitution of 1852. 



January 14, 1852. Duvergier, Lois, LII, 19-27. 

This constitution was prepared and promulgated by Louis Na- 
poleon in conformity with the authorisation given him by the ple- 
biscite of December 20, 1851 (see No. Ill D). As a whole it 
should be compared with its model, the Constitution of the Year 
VIII (No. 58). Numerous features of it m,ay also be compared 
with the preceding constitutions, especially those of 1802, 1804, 
1830 and 1848 (Nos. 6G E, 70, 105, 110). Features of it which 
seem to indicate a speedy reappearance of the Empire should be 
particularly noticed. 

Refeeencks. Seignobos, Europe Since ISlif, 171-172 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 151-153; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction 
in Modern France, 228-229 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gen- 
crale, XI, 35. 

The President of the Republic, 

Considering . . . [The omitted paragraphs recite the 
resolution submitted to the people, and the five bases 
for a constitution accepted at the same tim.e, see p. 540] ; 

Considering that the people have responded in the affirm- 
ative by seven million one hundred thousand votes, 

Promulgates the Constitution of which the tenor follows : 

TITLE I. 

T. The Constitution recognizes, confirms and guarantees 
the great principles proclaimed in 1789, and which are the 
basis of the public law of the French. 

TITLE II. FORM OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 

2. The government of the French Republic is confided 
for ten years to Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, now Pres- 
ident of the Republic. 

3. The President of the Republic governs by means of the 



CONSTITUTION OP 1852 545 

ministers, the Council of State, the Senate and the Corps- 
Lej^islatif. 

4. The legislative power is exercised by the President of 
the Republic, the Senate, and the Corps-Legislatif collectively. 

TITLE III. OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 

5. The President of the Republic is responsible before the 
French people, to whom he has always the right to make ap- 
peal. 

6. The President of the Republic is the Head of the 
State ; he commands the land and 'sea forces, declares war, 
makes treaties of peace, alliance and commerce, appoints to all 
the offices, and makes the regulations and decrees necessary 
for the execution of the laws. 

7. Justice is administered in his name. 

8. He alone has the proposal of the laws. 

9. He has the right to grant pardons. 

10. He sanctions and promulgates the laws and the sen- 
atus-consulta. 

11. He presents every year to the Senate and the Corps- 
Legislatif, by a message, the condition of the affairs of the 
Repubhc. 

12. He has the right to declare the state of siege in one 
or several departments, provided that he reports it to the 
Senate with the least possible delay. 

The results of the state of siege are regulated by law. 

13. The ministers are subject to the Head of the State 
only; they are not responsible for the acts of the government 
except each in that which concerns him ; there is no solidarity 
among them ; they can be accused only by the Senate. 

14. The ministers, the members of the Senate, the Corps- 
Legislatif, the Council of State, the officers of the army 
and the navy, the magistrates and the public functionaries 
take the following oath: 

/ swear obedience to the Constitution and fidelity to the 
President. 

15. A senatus-consultum fixes the 'sum annually allowed 
to the President of the Republic for the entire duration of his 
functions. 

16. If the Preisident of the Republic dies before the ex- 



546 CONSTITUTION OF 1852 

piration of his commission, the Senate convokes the nation 
in order to proceed to a new election. 

17. The Head of the State has the right, by a secret act 
deposited in the archives of the Senate, to designate the name 
of the citizen whom he recommends, in the interest of France, 
to the confidence of the people and for their votes. 

18. Until the election of the new President of the Republic, 
the President of the Senate governs with the assistance of the 
ministers in office, who organize themselves into a coimcil of 
government and act by the majority of votes. 

TITLE IV. OF THE SENATE. 

19. The number of senators cannot exceed one hundred 
and fifty : it is fixed for the first year at eighty. 

20. The Senate is composed: ist, of the cardinals, mar- 
shals iand admirals ; 2d, of the citizens whom the President of 
the Republic sees fit to elevate to the dignity of senator. 

21. The senators are irremovable and for life. 

22. The services of a senator are gratuitous ; nevertheless 
the President of the Republic can grant to senators, by reason 
of seTvices rendered and the condition <oi their fortunes, a per- 
sonal allowance, which cannot exceed thirty thousand francs 
per annum. 

23. The President and the Vice-Presidents of the Senate 
are appointed by the President of the Republic and are chosen 
from among the senators. 

They are appointed for one year. 

The stipend of the President of the Senate is fixed by a 
decree. 

24. The President of the Republic convokes and pro- 
rogues the Senate. He fixes the duration of its sessions by 
a decree. 

The sittings of the Senate are not public. 

25. The Senate is the guardian of the fundamental com- 
pact and of the public liberties. No law can be promulgated 
until after having been submitted to it. 

26. The Senate opposes the promulgation, 

ist. Of laws which contravene or constitute an attack upon 
the Constitution, religion, morality, freedom of worship, per- 
sonal liberty, equality of the citizens before the law, the in- 



CONSTITUTION OP 1852 



547 



violability of property and the principle of the irremovabiHty of 
the magistracy ; 

2d. Of those which can compromise the defence of the ter- 
ritory. 

27. The Senate regulates by a senatus-consultum ; 
1st. The Constitution of the colonies and of Algeria; 

2d. Everything that has not been provided for by the Con- 
stitution and which is necessary for its operation ; 

3d. The meaning of the articles of the Constitution which 
occasion different interpretations. 

28. These senatus-consulta shall be submitted to the sanc- 
tion of the President of the Republic and (Shall be promulgated 
by him. 

29. The Senate allows or annul's all the acts which are sub- 
mitted to it by the Government as unconstitutional or are de- 
nounced, for the same reason, by the petitions of citizens. 

30. The Senate can, in a report addressed to the President 
of the Republic, propose the bases of proposals for laws of 
great national interest. 

31. It can likewise propose alterations in the Constitution. 
If the proposal is adopted by the executive power, it is en- 
acted by a senatus-consultum. 

32. Nevertheless every alteration in the fundamental bases 
of the Constitution, as they have been 'set forth in the procla- 
mation of December 2 [1851], and adopted by the French peo- 
ple, shall be submitted to universal suffrage. 

33. In case of the dissolution of the Corps-Legislatif, and 
until a new convocation, the Senate, upon the proposal of the 
President of the Republic, provides by measures of urgency 
for whatever is necessary for the operation of the Government. 

TITLE V. OF THE CORPS-LEGISLATIF. 

34. Population is the basis for elections. 

35. There shall be one deputy to the Corps-Legislatif for 
every thirty-five thousand electors. 

36. The deputies are elected by universal suffrage with- 
out scrutin de liste. 

37. They do not receive any stipend. 

38. They are selected for six years. 

39. The Corps-Legislatif discusses and votes upon propos- 
als for laws and upon taxation. 



548 CONSTITUTION OP 1852 

40. Every amendment adopted by the commission charged 
to examine a proposal for a law shall be sent back, without 
discussion, to the Council of State by the President of. the 
Corps-Legislatif. 

If the amendment is not adopted by the Council of State, 
it cannot be submitted to the consideration of the Corps-Legis- 
latif. 

41. The regular sessions of the Corps-Legislatif continue 
for three months; its sittings are public; but the request of 
five members is sufficient for it to form itself into secret com- 
mittee. 

42. The report of the sessions of the Corps-Legislatif by 
newspapers or any other means' of publication shall consist 
only in the reproduction of the minutes drawn up at the close 
of each session under the direction of the President of the 
Corps-Legislatif. 

43. The president and the Vice-Presidents of the Corps- 
Legislatif are appointed by the President of the Republic^ for 
one year; they are chosen from among the deputies. The 
stipend of the President of the Corps-Legislatif is fixed by a 
decree. 

44. The ministers cannot be members of the Corps-Legis- 
latif. 

45. The right of petition is exercised before the Senate. 
No petition can be addressed to the Corps-Legislatif. 

46. The President of the Republic convokes, adjourns, 
prorogues and dissolves the Corps-Legislatif. In case of dis- 
solution, the President of the Republic must convoke it anew 
within a period of six months. 

TITLE VI. OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. 

47. The number of Councillors of State in regular service 
is from forty to fifty. 

48. The Councillors of State are appointed by the Pres- 
ident of the Republic, and are dismissible by him. 

49. The Council of State is presided over by the President 
of the Republic, and in his absence by the person whom he 
designates as Vice-President of the Council of State. 

50. The Council of State is charged, under the direction 
of the President of the Republic, to draw up the proposals 



CONSTITUTION OF 1852 



549 



for laws and the regulations for public administration, and 
to settle the difficulties that arise in affairs of administration. 

51. It carries on, in the name of the Government, the dis- 
cussion of the proposals for laws before the Senate and Corps- 
Legislatif. 

The Councillors of State charged to speak in the name of 
the Government are designated by the President of the Re^ 
public. 

52. The salary of each Councillor of State is twenty-five 
thousand francs.. 

53. The ministers have rank, sitting and deliberative voice 
in the Council of State. 

TITLE VII. OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. 

54. A High Court of Justice tries, without appeal or re- 
course in cassation, all persons who have been sent before it 
as accused of crimes, attempts or conspiracies against the Pres- 
ident of the Republic and against the internal or external se- 
curity of the state. . 

It can be called in session only in virtue of a decree of the 
President of the Republic. 

55. A senatus-consultum shall determine the organization 
of this High Court. 

TITLE VIII. GENERAL AND TEMPORARY PROVISIONS. 

56. The provisions of the existing codes, laws and reg- 
ulations, which are not contrary to the present Constitution, 
remain in force until they may be legally altered. 

57. A law shall determine the municipal organization. The 
mayors shall be appointed by the executive power and can 
be taken from outside of the municipal council. 

58. The present Constitution shall be in force dating from 
the day on which the great bodies of the State which it organ- 
izes shall be constituted. 

The decrees issued by the President of the Republic from 
December 2, 1851, to the present time, shall have the force of 
law. 

Done at the Palace of the Tuileries, January 14, 1852. 
Signed, Louis-Napoleon. 



550 DECREE UPON THE PRESS 

113. Organic Decree upon the Press, 

February 17, 1852. Duvergier, Lois, LII, 104-107. 

This decree is important as a type of numerous decrees issued 
by Louis Napoleon during tiis dictatorship (December 2, 1851, to 
March 29, 1852J and because the press regime which it estab- 
lished remained without essential change until 1868. The system 
should be compared with those of the First Empire (see No. 86) 
and of the Bourbon Monarchy (see No. 101). 

Reference. Seignobos, Europe Since ISl^, 174. 

CHAPTER I. OF THE PXIOR AUTHORISATION AND THE CAUTION- 
MONEY OF NEWSPAPERS AKD PERIODICAL WORKS. 

1. No newspaper or periodical work treating of political 
matters or of social economy, and appearing either regularly 
and at a fixed day or in parts and irregularly, can be pro- 
duced or published without the prior authorisation of the 
government. 

This authorisation can be granted only to a Frenchman who 
has reached his majority and enjoys all his civil and political 
rights. 

The prior authorisation of the government shall likewise 
be necessary for all changes effected in the personnel oi the 
conductors, editors-in-chief, proprietors or adminiistrators of 
a newspaper. 

2. Political or social economy newspapers published abroad 
cannot circulate in France except by virtue of an authorisa- 
tion of the government. 

The introducers or distributors of a foreign newspaper 
whose circulation shall not have been authorised shall be pun- 
ished by an imprisonment of from one month to one year 
and a fine of from one hundred francs to five thousand francs. 

3. The proprietors of every newspaper or periodical work 
treating of political matters or of social economy are required, 
before its publication, to pay into the treasury a caution- 
money in coin, upon which interest to the regular amount for 
caution- monies shall be paid. 

4. [This article fixes the amount of the caution-money, 
varying from fifteen to fifty thousand francs.] 



DECREE UPON THE PRESS 



551 



CHAPTER II. OF THE STAMP-DUTY OF PERIODICAL JOURNALS. 

6. Newspapers or periodical works and periodical collec- 
tions of political engravings or lithographs of less than ten 
sheets of twenty-five to thirty-two square decimeters or of 
less than five sheets of fifty to seventy-two square decimeters 
shall be subject to a stamp-duty. 

This duty shall be six centimes per sheet of seventy-two 
square decimeters or less in the departments of the Seine 
and of Seine-et-Oise, and three centimes for newspapers, en- 
gravings or periodical works published anywhere else. 



CHAPTER IIL OFFENCES AND CONTRAVENTIONS NOT PROVIDED 

FOR IN PREVIOUS LAWS. . . . RIGHT OF SUSPENSION 

AND SUPPRESSION. 

14. Every contravention of article 42 of the Constitution 
upon the publication of the official reports of the sittings of 
the Corps-Legislatif shall be punished by a fine of from one 
thousand to five thousand francs. 

15. The publication or reproduction of false news and of 
fabricated items, falsely or untruly attributed to third parties, 
shall be punished by a fine of from fifty to one thousand francs. 

If the publication or reproduction is made in bad faith, 
or if it is of a nature to disturb the public peace, the pen- 
alty shall be from one month to one year imprisonment and 
a fine of from five hundred to one thousand francs. The 
maximum penalty shall be applied if the publication or repro- 
duction was at the same time of a nature to disturb the public 
peace and was made in bad faith. 

16. Reporting the sittings of the Senate otherwise than 
by the reproduction of the articles inserted in the official jour- 
nal is forbidden. 

Reporting the sittings of the Council of State which are 
not public is forbidden. 

17. Reporting trials for press offences is forbidden. The 
prosecution alone can be announced; in every case, the de- 
cision can be published. 

In all civil, correctional or criminal cases, the courts and 
tribunals can forbid the reporting of the trial. This inter- 



552 



DJECREB UPON THE PRESS 



diction cannot be applied to the decision, which can always 
be published. 

21. The publication of any article treating of political mat- 
ters or of social economy, and emanating from an individual 
condemned to an afflictive and infamous punishment, or in- 
famous only, is forbidden. 



22. No designs, no engravings, lithographs, medals, prints 
or emblems, of any nature or kind whatsoever, can be pub- 
lished, exposed or put on sale without the prior authorisation 
of the minister of police at Paris, or of the prefects in the 
departments. 



24. Any person who follows the business of bookseller 
without having obtained the warrant required by article 11 
of the law of October 2, 1814, shall be punished by a penalty 
of from one month to two years imprisonment and a fine of 
from one hundred to two thousand francs. The establishment 
shall be closed. 



■^2. A condemnation for crime committed by means of the 
press, two condemnations for offences or contraventions com- 
mitted within the space of two years, entails ipso facto 
suspension or the suppression of the newspaper. 

After a condemnation for a press contravention or offence 
pronounced against the resporsible conductor of a newspaper, 
the government has the right, during the two ^months which 
follow that condemnation, to pronounce either the temporary 
suspension or the suppression of the newspaper. 

A newspaper can be suspended by ministerial decision, even 
when it has not been the subject of any condemnation, after 
two notices, with statements of reasons, and during a time 
which cannot exceed two months. 

A newspaper can be suppressed either after a judicial or 
administrative suspension or by measure of public safety, by 



EVOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE 



553 



a special decree of the President of the Republic, published 
in the Bulletin of the Laws. 



114. Documents upon the Evolution of the Empire. 

These documents record some of the most important steps in 
the process by which the restoration of the Empire was effected. 
Incidentally they also throw light upon many other features of 
the process. Document A is the speech made by Louis Napoleon 
at the inauguration of the government created by the Constitution 
of 1852. It may be called the manifesto, of the reorganized re- 
public. Document B is a type of the hundreds of addresses pre- 
sented during the course of his famous tour in southern France 
in September and October, 1852. Document C is often called the 
manifesto of the Empire. Pronounced by Louis Napoleon at the 
end of his southern tour, it contained the first direct intimation 
from him that the Empire was to be re-established, and outlined 
its policy. Document D effected the necessary changes to adapt 
the Constitution of 1852 to the Empire. The vote for acceptance 
was nearly eight millions against about two hundred and fifty 
thousand. 

Reference. Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 37-41. 

A. Speech of the Prince-President to the Chambers. March 
29, 1852. Moniteur, March 30, 1852. 

Messrs Senators, Messrs Deputies. 

The dictatorship which the people confided to me ceases 
to-day. Things are about to resume their regular course. 
It is with a feeling of real satisfaction that I come to pro- 
claim here the putting into effect oi the Constitution; for my 
constant preoccupation has been not only to re-establish 
order, but to render it durable by giving France institutions 
suitable to its needs. 

Only a few months ago, you will recall, the more I con- 
fined myself within the narrow circle of my attributes, it was 
sought to restrict them still more, in order to deprive me of 
movement and action. Often discouraged, I confess, I had 
thought of abandoning an authority thus disputed. What re- 
strained me was that I saw to succeed me only one thing: 
anarchy. Everywhere, in fact, ardent passions, incapable of 
estabhshing anything, were rising up to destroy. Nowhere 



554 



EVOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE 



was there an institution or a man to whom to attach ; nowhere 
was there an incontestable right, or any organization, or sys- 
tem which could be realized. 

So when, thanks to the co-operation of some courageous 
men, thanks especially to the energetic attitude of the array, all 
the perils were conjured away in a few hours, my first care 
was to ask the people for institutions. For too long a time 
society had resembled a pyramid which someone had turned 
over and sought to make rest upon its apex; I have re- 
placed it upon its base. Universal suffrage, the only source of 
right in such conjunctures, was immediately re-estabhshed ; 
order reconquered its ascendancy; in fine, France adopting the 
principal provisions of the Constitution which I submitted to 
it. I was permitted to create political bodies whose influence 
and consideration will be so much greater as their attributes 
have been wisely regulated. 

In fact, among political institutions those alone endure 
which fix in an equitable manner the limits in which each 
power must remain. There is no other means of arriving at a 
useful and beneficent application of liberty: examples are not 
far from us. 

Why, in 1814, was the inauguration of a parliamentary 
regime seen with satisfaction, despite our reverses ? It was, 
I do not fear to avow it, because the Emperor, on account 
of war, had been led to a too absolute exercise of authority. 

Why, on the contrary, in 1851, did France applaud the fall 
of that same parliamentary regime? It was because the Cham- 
bers had abused the influence which had been given them, 
and because, wishing to dominate everything, they were com- 
promising the general equilibrium. 

Finally, why has France not risen against the restrictions 
imposed upon the liberty of the press and personal liberty? 
It is because one had degenerated into license and the other, 
instead of being the orderly exercise of the right of each, by 
odious excesses had menaced the rights of all. 

This extreme danger, especially for democracies, of con- 
stantly seeing badly defined institutions sacrifice in turn 
authority or liberty, was perfectly appreciated by our fathers 
half ai century ago, when, upon emerging from the revolu- 
tionary turmoil and after vain trial of every kind of system, 



EVOLUTION OP THE EMPIRE 555 

they proclaimed the Constitution of the Year VIII, which has 
served as the model for that of 1852. Without doubt these 
do not sanction all those liberties, to the abuses oi which 
we had even become accustomed; but they also consecrate 
some very real ones. On the morrow of revolutions, the first 
of the guarantees for a people does not consist in the im- 
moderate use of the tribune and the press; it is in the right 
to choose the government which is suitable for it. Now the 
French nation has given to the world, perhaps for the first 
time, the imposing spectacle of a great people voting in entire 
liberty the form of its government. 

Thus the Head of the State whom you have before you is 
indeed the expression of the popular will ; and what do I 
see before me? two chambers, one elected in virtue of the most 
liberal law which exists in the world ; the other appointed 
by me, it is true, but independent also, because it is irremov- 
able. 

Around me you will notice men of patriotism and of rec- 
ognized merit, always ready to support me with their counsel 
and to enlighten me upon the needs of the country. 

That Constitution which from to-day is going to be in op- 
eration is not, then, the work of a. vain theory nor of des^ 
potism : it is the work of experience and of reason. You will 
aid me, gentlemen, to consolidate, extend and improve it. 

And now, gentlemen, at the moment in which you are about 
to patriotically associate yourselves with my labors, I desire 
to set forth frankly what shall be my conduct. 

Seeing me re-establish the institutions . and recollections 
of the Empire, it has been often repeated that I desire to re- 
establish the Empire itself. If such was my constant pre- 
occupation, that transformation would have been accom- 
plished long since : neither the means nor the occasions were 
lacking to me. 

Thus in 1848, when six million votes elected me, in spite of 
the Constituante, I was not ignorant that by simple refusal 
to acquiesce in the Constitution, I could have given myself a, 
throne. But an elevation which must necessarily lead to grave 
disturbances did not seduce me. 



556 EVOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE 

On June 13, 1849, it would have been equally easy for me 
to change the form of the government: I did not wish it. 

Finally, on the 2d of December, if personal considerations 
had outweighed the grave interests of the country, I might 
have first of all asked the people for a pompous title, which 
they would not have refused. I was content with what I had. 

When, then, I draw examples from the Consulate and the 
Empire, it is because I find them there especially stamped 
with nationality land grandeur. Resolved to^-day, as before, 
to do everything for France, and nothing for myself, I shall 
accept modification O'f the present state of things only if 1 
am constrained thereto by evident necessity. Whence can it 
Erise? Only from the conduct of parties. If they are re- 
signed, nothing will be changed. But if by their secret in- 
trigues they seek to undermine the foundations of my gov- 
ernment; if, in their blindness, they deny the legitimacy of 
the result of the popular election; if, in fine, they continue 
to constantly put in jeopardy the future of the country by 
their attacks, then, but only then, it may be reasonable to ask 
the people, in the name of the repose of France, for a new title 
which shall fix irrevocably upon my head the power with which 
I am invested. But let us not anticipate difficulties which doubt- 
less have nothing of probability about them. Let us preserve 
the Republic; it threatens nobody, it can reassure everybody. 
Under its banner I wish to inaugurate again an era of obliv- 
ion and conciliation, and I call upon all, without distinction, 
who are willing to freely co-operate with me for the public 
v\'clfare. 



B. Address of the Municipality of Vedennes to Louis- 
Napoleon. October, 1852. Moniteur, October 8, 1852. 

The Municipal Council, 

Considering that in destroying the hopes and baffling the 
projects of those perverse men who had dreamed of civil war, 
anarchy and the overturning of society, Louis-Napoleon has 
done for the country and the peace of the entire world more 
than it has ever been given to any man to do ; 

Considering that by the repression of the anarchical at- 
tempts and the re-establishment of the principle of authority, 



EVOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE 



557 



he has rendered tO' society brilliant services and has merited 
well of France; 

Considering that confidence in the stability of institutions 
is one of the most essential elements of the strength of States 
and of public prosperity; 

Unanimously expresses the desire that the Empire should be 
re-established in the person of His Imperial Highness Prince 
Louis-Napoleon and his descendants, and for that purpose, in 
conformity with articles 31 and 32 of the Constitution, a 
senatus-consultuim should be proposed for the acceptance of 
the French people. 

C. The Bordeaux Address. October 9, 1852. Moniteur, 
October 12, 1852. 

Gentlemen, 

The invitation of the Chamber and of the Tribunal of Com- 
merce of Bordeaux which I have cheerfully accepted furnishes 
me an opportunity to thank your grand city for its reception 
so cordial and its hospitality so replete with magnificence, and 
I am very glad also, towards the end of my tour, to share 
with you the iinpress'ons which it has left upon me. 

The purpose of this tour, as you know, was that I might 
come to know for myself our beautiful provinces of the south, 
and that I might appreciate their needs. It has, however, given 
rise to a much more important result. 

Indeed, I say it with a candor as far removed' from ar- 
rogance as from a false modesty, never has a people testified 
in a manner more direct, spontaneous and unanimous the de- 
sire to be freed from anxieties as to the future by consolidat- 
ing in the same hands an authority which is in sympathy with 
them. It is because they know at this hour both the false 
hopes with which they deluded themselves and the dan- 
gers with which they are threatened. They know that in 
1852 society was hastening to its destruction, because each 
pL'rty was consoling^ itself in advance of the general ship- 
wreck with the hope of planting its banner upon the ruins 
which might float on the surface. They are thankful to me for 
having saved the ship, merely by raising the banner of France. 

Disabused of absurd theories, the people have acquired the 
conviction that the pretended reformers were only dreamers, 



558 EVOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE 

because there was always inconsistency and disproportion be- 
tween their means and the resuks promised. 

To-day, France encompasses me with her sympathies, be- 
cause I am not of the family of the ideologists. In order to 
secure the welfare of the country, it is not necessary to apply 
new systems ; but before everything else, to inspire confi- 
dence in the present and security for the future. That is 
why France seems to wish to return to the Empire. 

There is, nevertheless, a fear which I much refute. In 
a spirit of distrust, certain persons declare : The Empire 
means war. But I say : The Empire means peace. 

It means peace, because ^l^^rance desires it, and, when 
France is satisfied, the world is tranquil. Glory, indeed, is 
bequeathed by hereditary title, but not war. Did the princes 
who justly thought themselves honored in being the grand- 
sons of Louis XIV recommence his struggles ? War is not 
made by pleasure, but by necessity; and at these epochs of 
transition in which everywhere, by the side of so many ele- 
ments of prosperity, as many causes of death shoot up, it 
can be said with truth : Woe to him who first should give in 
Europe the signal of a collision whose consequences would be 
incalculable ! 

I admit, however, that I, like the Emperor, have indeed 
conquests to make. I wish, like him, to conquer for concil- 
iation the hostile parties and to bring into the current of 
the great popular stream the hostile derivations which are now 
ruining themselves without profit to anybody. 

I wish to conquer for religion, morality and comfortable 
living that part of the population still so numerous, which, 
in the midst of a country of faith and belief, scarcely knows 
of the precepts of Christ; which, in the midst of the most fer- 
tile land in the world, can scarcely enjoy products of first ne- 
cessity. 

We have enormous uncultivated territories to clear, routes 
■to open, harbors to deepen, rivers ^to make navigable, 
canals to finish, and our network of railroads to complete. We 
have opposite Marseilles an enormous kingdom to assimilate to 
France. We have to connect all of our great western ports 
•with the American continent by those rapid communications 
which we still lack. In fine, we have everywhere ruins to raise 



EVOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE 



559 



again, false gods to cast down, and truths to make triumphant. 
That is 'how I shall understand the Empire, if the Empire 
must be re-established. Such are the conquests which I med- 
itate, and all of you who surround me, who wish, like myself, 
the welfare of our fatherland, you are my soldiers. 

D. Senatus-Consultum upon the Empire. November 7, 
1852. Duvcrgier, Lois, LII, 680-682. 

The Senate has deliberated, in conformity with articles 31 
and 32 of the Constitution, and voted the senatus-consultum 
whose tenor follows : 

1. The imperial dignity is re-established. 
Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is Emperor of the French, under 

the name of Napoleon III. 

2. The imperial dignity is hereditary in the direct and 
legitimate descendants of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, from 
male to male, by order of primogeniture, and to the perpet- 
ual exclusion of women and their descendants. 

3. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, if he has no male children, 
can adopt the legitimate children and descendants in the mas- 
culine line of the brothers of the Emperor Napoleon L 

The forms of adoption are regulated by a senatus-consult- 
um. 

If, after the adoption, male children should come to Louis- 
Napoleon, his adopted sons can be called to succeed him 
only after his legitimate descendants. 

Adoption is forbidden to the successors of Louis-Napoleon 
and their descendants. 

4. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte regulates, by an organic de- 
cree addressed to the Senate and deposited in its archives, the 
order of succession to the throne within the Bonaparte fam- 
ily, for the case that he should not leave any direct heir, 
legitimate or adopted. 

5. In default of a legitimate or adopted heir of Louis- 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and of successors in the collateral line 
\\-\\o shall take their right in the above mentioned organic de- 
cree, a senatus-consultum, proposed l:o Ihe Senate by the min- 
isters formed into Council of Government with the addition 
of the acting presidents of the Senate, the Corps-Legis 
latif and the Council of State., and submitted to the acceptance 



56o THE CONGRESS OF PARIS 

of the people, appoints the Emperor and regulates within 
hi? family the hereditary order from male to male, to the per- 
petual exclusion of women and their descendants. 

Up to the moment at which the election of the new Emper- 
or is consummated, the affairs of State are controlled by the 
ministers on duty, who form themselves into Council of Gov- 
ernment and deliberate by majority of votes. 

6, The members of the family of Louis-Napoleon Bona- 
parte summoned eventually to the inheritance and their de- 
scendants of both sexes, form part of the imperial family. 
A senatus-consultum regulates their position. They cannot 
marry without the authorisatioji of the Emperor. Marriage 
made by them without that authorisation involves loss of all 
right to the inheritance, both for the one who has contracted 
it and for his descendants. 

Nevertheless, if there are no children from that marriage, 
in case of its dissolution because of death, the prince who 
had contracted it recovers his rights to the inheritance. 

Louis-Napoleon fixes the titles and the station of the other 
members of his family. 

The Emperor has full authority over all members of his 
family; he regulates their duties and their obligations by 
statutes which have the force of law. 

The Constitution of January 14, 1852, is maintained in all 
those of its provisions which are not contrary to the present 
senatus-consultum; modifications in it can be effected only in 
the forms and by the means which it has provided. 

8. The following proposition shall be presented for the ac- 
ceptance of the French people in the forms fixed by the de- 
crees of December 2 and 4, 185 1. 

"The French people wish the re-establishment of the im- 
perial dignity in the person of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, 
with inheritance in his direct descendants, legitimate or adopt- 
ed, and give to him the right to regulate the order of succes- 
sion to the throne within the Bonaparte family, as is provided 
for by the senatus consultum of November 7, 1852." 

115. Documents upon the Congress of Paris. 

These documents, representing the principal results of the 



THE CONGRESS OF PARIS 



561 



international congress at the close of the Crimean war, are im- 
portant from many standpoints. Three of these deserve special 
attention. (1) As the Crimean war was in large measure due to 
rivalry for international prestige, they may be examined to as- 
certain what direct and immediate advantages or disadvantages 
accrued to each state. (2) As a new settlement of the Eastern 
Problem was effected in these documents its various features 
should be carefully noted, e.g., the alteration in the position of 
Turkey, the status provided for the Christian states of the Balkan 
peninsula, the control over the Black Sea and Dardenelles. (3) 
As a number of long-disputed international law questions were 
definitively settled, notice should be taken of what these were, the 
method provided for their settlement and the principles finally 
accepted. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 227-240 (Popular ed., 
856-865) ; Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 789-792 ; Phillips, Mod- 
ern Europe, 357-360 ; Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 77-90 ; La- 
visse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XI, 220-226. 

A. Treaty of Paris, March 30, 1856. Herstlet, Map of 
Europe by Treaty^ 1250- 1265. 

Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the 
Emperor of all the Russias, the King of Sardinia, and the Em- 
peror of the Ottomans, animated by the desire to put an end 
to the calamities of War, and wishing to prevent the return 
of the comphcations which occasioned it, resolved to come 
to an understanding with His Majesty the Emperor of Aus- 
tria as to the bases on which Peace might be re-established and 
consolidated, by securing, through effectual and reciprocal 
guarantees, the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Em- 
pire. 



[In the omitted passage the King of Prussia is also made 
a party to the treaty.] 

I. From the day of the exchange of the Ratifications of 
the present Treaty there shall be Peace and Friendship between 
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Brit- 
ain and Ireland, His Majesty the Emperor of the French, 
His Majesty the King of Sardinia, His Imperial Majesty the 
Sultan, on the one part, and His Majesty the Emperor of 
All the Russias, on the other part; as well as between tneir 



562 THE CONGRESS OF PARIS 

heirs and successors, their respective dominions and subjects 
in perpetuity. 



7. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, His Majesty the Emperor of Aus- 
tria, His Majesty the Emperor of the French, His Majesty 
the King of Prussia, His Majesty the Emperor of All the 
Russias, and His Majesty the King of Sardinia, declare the 
Sublime Porte admitted to participate in the advantages oi: 
the Public Law and System. (Conceit) of Europe. Their Maj- 
esties engage, each on his part, to respect the Independence 
and the Territorial Integrity of the Ottoman Empire ; Guar- 
antee in common the strict observance of that engagement ; and 
will in consequence consider any act tending to its \dolation 
as a question of general interest. 

8. If there should arise between the Sublime Porte and 
one or more of the other Signing Powers any misunderstand- 
ing which might endanger the maintenance of their relations, 
the Sublime Porte and each of such Powers, before having 
recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other Contract- 
ing Parties the opportunity of preventing such an extremity 
by means of their Mediation. 

9. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan having, in his con- 
stant solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a 
Firman, which, while ameliorating their condition without 
distinction of Religion or of race, records his generous in- 
tentions towards the Christian population of his Empire, 
and wishing to give a further proof of his sentiments in that 
respect, has resolved to communicate to the Contracting Par- 
ties the said Firman, emanating spontaneously from his Sov- 
ereign will. 

The Contracting Powers recognize the high value of this 
communication. It is clearly understood that it cannot, in 
any case, give to the said Powers the right to interfere, either 
collectively or separately, in the relations of His Majesty the 
Sultan with his subjects, nor in the Internal Administration 
of his Empire. 

10. The Convention of the 13th of July, 1841, which main- 
tains the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire relative to the 



THE CONGRESS OF PARIS 563 

Closing of the Straits of the Bosphorus and of the Dardan- 
elles, has been revised by common consent. 

The Act concluded for that purpose and in conformity 
with that principle, between the High Contracting Parties, is 
and remains annexed to the present Treaty, and shall have the 
same force and validity as if it formed an integral part 
thereof. 

II. The Black Sea is neutralized; its Waters and its Ports, 
thrown open to the Mercantile Marine of every Nation, are 
formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the Flag of War, 
either of the Powers possessing its Coasts, or of any other 
Power, with the exceptions mentioned in Articles 14 and 19 
of the present Treaty. 

15. The Act of the Congress of Vienna, having established 
the principles intended to regulate the Navigation of Rivers 
which separate or traverse different States, the Contracting 
Powers stipulate among themselves that those principles shall 
in future be equally apphed to the Danube and its Mouths. 
They declare that its arrangement henceforth forms a part 
of the Public Law of Europe, and take it under their Guar- 
antee. 

22. The Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia shall 
continue to enjoy under the Suzerainty of the Porte, and 
under the Guarantee of the Contracting Powers, the Priv- 
ilges and Immunities of which they are in possession. No 
exclusive Protection shall be exercised over them by any of 
the Guaranteeing Powers. 

. There shall be no separate right of interference in their 
Internal Affairs. 

23. The Sublime Porte engages to preserve to the said 
Principalities an Independent and National Administration, 
as well as full liberty of Worship, of Legislation, of Com- 
merce, and of Navigation. 

28. The Principality of Servia shall continue to hold of 
the Sublime Porte, in conformity with the Imperial Hats 
which fix and determine its Rights and Immunities, placed 



564 



THE CONGRESS OF PARIS 



henceforward under the Collective Guarantee of the Contract- 
ing Powers. 

In consequence, the said Principality shall preserve its 
Independence and National Administration, as well as full 
Liberty of Worship, of Legislation, of Commerce, and of Navi- 
gation. 



B. The Dardanelles Convention. March 26, 1856. Herst- 
let, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1266- 1269. 

Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Em- 
peror of the French, the King of Prussia, the Empexor of 
All the Russias, signing Parties to the Convention of the 13th 
day of July, 1841, and His Majesty the King of Sardinia; wish- 
ing to record in common their unanimous determination to 
conform to the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire, accord- 
ing to which the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bos- 
phorus are Closed to Foreign Ships of War, so long as the 
Porte is at Peace; 

Their said Majesties, on the one part, and His Majesty 
the Sultan, on the other, have resolved to renew the Con- 
vention concluded at London on the 13th day of July, 1841, 
with the exception of some modifications of detail which do 
not affect the principle upon which it rests ; 



I. His Majesty the Sultan, on the one part, declares that 
he is firmly resolved to maintain for the future the principle 
invariably established as the ancient rule of his Empire, and 
in virtue of which it has, at all times, been prohibited for the 
Ships of War of Foreign Powers to enter the Straits of the 
Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus ; and that, so long as the 
Porte is at Peace, His Majesty will admit no Foreign Ship 
of War into the said Straits. 

And their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Em- 
peror of the French, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of All 
the Russias, and the King of Sardinia, on the other part, en- 



THE CONGRESS OF PARIS 565 

gage to respect this determination of the Sultan, and to con- 
form themselves to the principle ahove declared. 

C. Declaration Respecting Maritime Power. April 16, 
1856. Herstlet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1282-1283. 

The Plenipotentiaries who signed the Treaty of Paris 
of the 30th of March, 1856, assembled in Conference, — 

Considering : 

That Maritime Law, in time of war, has long been the 
subject of deplorable disputes ; 

That the uncertainty of the law and of the duties in such 
a matter, gives rise to differences of opinion between Neu- 
trals and Belligerents which may occasion serious difficulties, 
and even conflicts ; 

That it is consequently advantageous to establish a uniform 
doctrine on so important a point; 

That the Plenipotentiaries assembled in Congress at Paris 
cannot better respond to the intentions by which their Gov- 
ernments are animated, than by seeking to introduce into inter- 
national relations fixed principles in this respect ; 

The above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries, being duly author- 
ised, resolved to concert among themselves as to the means of 
attaining this object; and, having come to an agreement, have 
adopted the following solemn Declaration : 

1. Privateering is, and remains, abolished ; 

2. The Neutral Flag covers Enemy's Goods, with the ex- 
ception of Contraband of War; 

3. Neutral Goods, with the exception of Contraband of 
War, are not liable to capture under Enemy's Flag; 

4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective, 
that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent 
access to the coast of the enemy. 

The Governments of the Undersigned Plenipotentiaries 
engage to bring the present Declaration to the knowledge of 
the States which have not taken part in the Congress of 
Paris, and to invite them to accede to it. 

Convinced that the maxims which they now proclaim can- 
not but be received with gratitude by the whole world, the 
undersigned Plenipotentiaries doubt not that the efforts of 



566 THE WAR IN ITALY 

their Governments to obtain the general adoption thereof, will 
be crowned with full success. 

The present Declaration is not, and shall not be binding, 
except between those powers who. have acceded, or shall accede, 
to it. 

Done at Paris, the i6th of April, 1856. 



116. Documents upon the War in Italy. 

The principal purpose of this group of documents is to throw 
light upon five features of the sulyject to which they relate. (1) 
Documents A and B show how the issue of war as between Aus- 
tria and Piedmont was joined. (2) Document C may be regarded 
as an official defence and announcement of the purpose of French 
participation in the war. (3) From document D something may 
be learned of what the Italians expected from French assistance. 
(4) Documents E and F show the terms upon which the war was 
concluded and the settlement of the Italian question intended by 
Napoleon III. (5) Document G shows the compensation exacted 
by France for its participation in the war. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 251-281 (Popular ed., 
873-892) ; Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 793-797 ; Andrews, Mod- 
ern Europe, II, 112-14.5; Cesarcsco, Cavour, Chs. viii-x ; Still- 
man. Union of Italy, Ch. xii ; King, Italian Unity, II, 45-51, 55- 
57, 61-70, 77-82, 115-122 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gen- 
erale. XI, 263-276. 

q 

A. The Austrian Ultimatum. April 19, 1856. Herstlet, 
Map of Europe by Treaty, 1359-1360. 

The Imperial Government, as your Excellency is aware, 
has hastened to accede to the proposal of the Cabinet of 
St. Petersburg to assemble a Congress of the 5 Powers with 
the view to remove the complications which have arisen in 
Italy. 

Convinced, however, of the impossibility to enter, with any 
chance of success, upon pacific deliberations in the midst of 
the noise of arms, and of preparations for War carried on 
in a neighboring Country, we have demanded the placing on 
a Peace Footing of the Sardinian Army, and the disbanding 
of the Free Corps, or Italian Volunteers, previously to the 
meeting of the Congress. 



THE WAR IN ITALY 567 

Her Britannic Majesty's Government finds this condition 
so just, and so consonant with the exigencies of the situation, 
that it did not hesitate to adopt it, at the same time declaring 
itself to be ready, in conjunction with France, to insist on 
the immediate disarmament of Sardinia, and to offer her in 
return a Collective Guarantee against any attack on our part, 
to which, of course, Austria would have done honour. 

The Cabinet of Turin seems only to have answered, by 
a categorical refusal to the invitation to put her army on a 
Peace Footing, and to accept the Collective Guarantee which 
was offered her. This refusal inspires us with regrets, so 
m.uch the more deep, that if the Sardinian Government had 
consented to the testimony of pacific sentiments which was de- 
manded of her, we should have accepted it as a first symptom 
of her intention to assist, on her side, in bringing about an im- 
provement in the relations between the two countries Wihich 
have unfortunately been in such a state of tension for some 
years past. In that case it would have been permitted us to 
furnish, by the breaking up of the Imperial troops stationed 
in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, another proof that they 
were not assembled for the purpose of aggression against 
Sardinia, 

Our hope having been hitherto deceived, the Emperor, 
my august master, has ordered me to make directly a last 
effort to cause the Sardinian government to reconsider the 
decision which it seems to have resolved on. Such is the 
object of this letter, 

I have the honour to entreat your Excellency tO' take its 
contents into your most serious consideration, and to let 
me know if the Royal Government consents, yes or no, to 
put its Army on a Peace Footing without delay, and tO' dis- 
band the Italian volunteers. 

The bearer of this letter, to whom, M, le Comte, you will 
be so good as to give your answer, is ordered to hold himself 
at your disposition to this effect for 3 days. 

Should he receive no answer at the expiration of this 
term, or should this answer not be completely satisfactory, 
the responsibility of the grave events which this refusal 
would entail would fall entirely on His Sardinian Majesty's 
Government. 



568 THE WAR IN ITALY 

After having exhausted in vain all conciliatory means 
to procure for these populations the guarantee of peace, on 
which the Emperor has a right to insist, His Majesty will 
be obliged, to his great regret, to have recourse to force of 
arms to retain it. 

In the hope that the answer which I solicit of your Ex- 
cellency will be congenial to our wishes for the maintenance 
of Peace, I seize, &c., Buol. 

C. Cavour. 

B. Reply of Sardinia. April 26, 1859. Herstlet, Map of 
Europe by Treaty, 1361. 

The question of the Disarmapient of Sardinia, which con- 
stitutes the basis of the demand which your Excellency ad- 
dresses to me, has been the subject of numerous negotiations 
between the Great Powers and the Government of the King. 
These negotiations led to a proposition drawn up by England, 
to which France, Prussia, and Russia adhered. Sardinia, in 
a spirit of conciliation, accepted it without reserve or after- 
thought. Since your Excellency can neither be ignorant either 
of the proposition of England nor the answer, I could add 
nothing in order to make known the intentions of the Gov- 
ernment of the King with regard to the difficulties which were 
opposed to the assembling of the Congress. 

The decided conduct of Sardinia has been appreciated 
by Europe. Whaitever may be the consequences which it 
entails, the King, my august master, is convinced that the 
responsibility will devolve upon them who first armed, who 
have refused the propositions made by a great Power, and 
recognized as just and reasonable by the others, and who now 
substitute a n^enacing summons in its stead. 

C. Proclamation of Napoleon III. May 3, 1859. Moniteur, 
May 4, 1859. 

Frenchmen ! 

Austria, in causing its army to enter the territory of the 
King of Sardinia, our ally, declares war upon us. It thus 
violates treaties and justice, and threatens our frontiers. All 
the great Powers have protested against that aggression. Pied- 
mont having accepted conditions which must have assured 
peace, it may be asked what can be the reason for this sud- 



THE WAR IN ITALY 



569 



den invasion. It is because Austria has brought matters to 
that extremity, that it is necessary she should dominate to the 
Alps, or that Italy should be free to the Adriatic; for in that 
country, every corner of land that remains independent is in 
danger for its power. 

Up to the present, moderation has been the rule of my 
conduct; now energy becomes my first duty. 

Let France arm itself and say resolutely to Europe : I do 
not wish for conquest, but I am determined to maintain without 
feebleness my national and traditional policy; I observe treat- 
ies, on condition that they shall not be violated against mc; 
I respect the territory and the rights of neutral powers, but I 
openly avow my sympathy for a people whose history is bound 
up with ours, and who groan under foreign oppression. 

France has shown her hatred of anarchy; she has been 
pleased to give me an authority strong enough to reduce to 
impotence the abettors of disorder and the incorrigible men 
of those former parties who are seen incessantly making cov- 
enajits with our enemies; but she has not for that abdicated 
her function as a civilizer. Her natural allies have always 
been thoise who desire the improvement of humianity, and 
when ,she draws her sword, it is not in order to domineer, but 
to liberate. 

The purpose of this war, then, is to restore Italy to herself 
and not to cause her to change her master, and we shall have 
upon our frontiers a friendly people, who will ov/e their inde- 
pendence to us. 

We are not going into Italy to foment disorder nor to 
shake the authority of the Holy Father, whomi we have re- 
placed upon his throne, but to secure it against that foreign 
pressure which weighs upon the whole Peninsula and to have 
a share in establishing order there out of legitimate satisfied 
interests. 

We are, in fine, in that classic land, made illustrious by 
so many victories, about to encounter the footsteps of our 
fathers; God grant that we may be worthy of them! 

I shall shortly place myself at the head of the army. I 
leave in France the Empress and my son. Seconded by the 
experience and the enlightenment of the last surviving broth- 



570 



THE WAR IN ITALY 



er of the Emperor, she will be able to show herself not 
inferior to her mission. 

I entrust them to the valor of our army which remains in 
France to look after our frontiers, as well as to protect our 
domestic hearth; I entrust them to the patriotism of the 
National Guard; I entrust them, in fine, to the entire people, 
who will surround them, with that love and devotion of 
which each day I receive so many proofs. 

Courage then and union! Our country is about to show 
the world once again that it has not degenerated. Providence 
will bless our efforts ; for the cause which is based upon jus- 
tice, humanity, love of fathetland and of independence, is 
holy in the eyes of God. 

Napoleon, 

Palace of the Tuileries, May 3, 1859. 

D. Proclamation to the Italians. June 8, 1859. Mon- 
iteur, June 12, 1859. 

Italians, 

The fortune of war bringing me to-day into the capital 
of Lombardy, I am about to tell you why I am here. 

When Austria unjustly attacked Piedmont, I resolved to 
support my ally, the King of Sardinia, the honor and interests 
of France making it a duty for me. Your enemies, who are 
mine, have tried to diminish the universal sympathy, which 
there has been in Europe for your cause, by seeking to make 
it thought that I was making war only through per- 
sonal ambition or to increase the territory of France. If 
there are men who do not understand their epoch, I am not of 
the number. 

In the enlightened state of public opinion at present, one 
is greater through the moral influence wihich he exercises 
than through sterile conquests ; and that moral influence I seek 
after with pride in contributing to make free one of the most 
beautiful parts of Europe. 

Your welcome has already proven to me that you do not 
misunderstand me. I do not come here with ai preconceived 
system in order to dispossess sovereigns nor to impose my 
will upon you ; my army wiil occupy itself only with two 
things: to fight your enemies, and to maintain internal order; 



THE WAR IN ITALY 57 1 

it will not interpose any obstacle to the free manifestation of 
your legitimate desires. Providence sometimes favors peoples 
just as it does individuals by giving them the opportunity to 
become great all at once; but it is on condition that they 
know how to profit thereby. Profit, then, by the fortune 
which is oft"ered you. 

Your desire for independence so long made known, so often 
deceived, will be realized if you will show yourselves worthy 
of it. Unite then in a single aim, the liberation of your coun- 
try. Organize militarily. Flock under the banners of Vic- 
tor Emmanuel, who has already so nobly shown you the 
way of honor. Remember that without discipline there is no 
army; and, animated by the sacred fire of patriotism, be to-day 
only soldiers ; to morrow, you shall be free citizens of a great 
country. 

Done at the imperial headquarters at Milan, June 8, 1859. 

Napoleon, 

E. Armistice of Villafranca. July 11, 1859. De Clercq, 
Traites, VII, 617-618. Translation, Herstlet, Map of Europe 
by Treaty, I374-I37S. 

Between His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His 
Majesty the Emperor of the French, it has been agreed as 
follows : 

The two Sovereigns favour the creation of an Italian Con- 
federation. This Confederation shall be under the honorary 
Presidency of the Holy Father. 

The Emperor of Austria cedes to the Emperor of the 
French his rights over Lombardy, with the exception of 
the Fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera, so that the Frontier 
of the Austrian possessions shall start from the extremity 
of the rayon of the Fortress of Peschiera, and extend in a 
straight line along the Mincio as far as Legrazia, thence to 
Szarzarola, and Lugano on the Po, whence the existing Front- 
iers continue to form the Boundaries of Austria. 

The Emperor of the French shall present the ceded Terri- 
tory to the King of Sardinia. 

Venetia shall form part of the Italian Confederation, re- 
m^aining, however, subject to the Crown of the Emperor of 
Austria. 



572 



THE WAR IN ITALY 



The Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Modena 
return to their States, granting a general amnesty. 

The two Emperors shall request the Holy Father to intro- 
duce in his States some indispensable reforms. 

Full and complete Amnesty is granted on both sides to 
persons compromised on the occasion of the recent events 
in the territories of the belligerents. 

Done at Villafranca, nth July, 1859. 

Napoleon. Francis Joseph. 

F, Treaty of Zurich. November 10, 1859. De Clercq, 
Traites, VII, 643-649. Translation, Herstlet, Map of Europe 
by Treaty, 1380-1391. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity, 
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and His Majesty the 
Emperor of the French, desirous of putting an end to the cal- 
amities of War, and of preventing the recurrence of the compli- 
cations which gave rise to it, by assisting to place upon solid 
and durable bases the internal and external Independence of 
Italy, have resolved to convert into a Definitive Treaty of Peace 
the Preliminaries signed by their hand at Villafranca. 

I. There shall be in future Peace and Friendship between 
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His Majesty the 
Emperor of the French, as also between their heirs and suc- 
cessors, their respective States and subjects, forever, 

4. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria renounces, for 
himself and all his descendants and successors, in favour 
of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Rights and 
Titles to Lombardy, w4th the exception of the Fortresses of 
Peschiera and Mantua, and of the Territories determined by the 
new delimitation, which remain in the possession of His In>- 
perial and Royal Apostolic Majesty. 

5. His Alajesty the Emperor of the French declares his 
intention of handing over to His Majesty the King of Sardinia 
the Territories ceded by the preceding Article. 

18. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His Majesty 



THE WAR IN ITALY 



573 



the Emperor of the French engage to make every effort to 
encourage the creation of a Confederation among the Italian 
States, to be placed under the honorary presidency of the 
Holy Father, and the object of which will be to uphold the 
Independence and Inviolability of the Confederated States, 
to assure the development of their moral and material Interests, 
and to guarantee the Internal and External Safety of Italy by 
the existence of a Federal Army. 

Venetia, which remains subject to the Crown of His Im- 
perial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, will form one of the 
States of this Confederation, and will participate in the obli- 
gations, as in the rights, resulting from the Federal Pact, the 
clauses of which will be determined by an Assembly composed 
ot the representatives of all the Italian States. 

19. As the Territorial Delimitation of the Independent 
States of Italy, who took no part in the late War, can be 
changed only with the sanction of the Powers who presided 
at their formation and recognized their existence, the Rights 
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, of the Duke of Modena, and 
of the Duke of Parma, are expressly reserved for the consid- 
eration of the High Contracting Parties. 

20. Desirous of seeing the tranquility of the States of the 
Church and the power of the Holy Father assured ; convinced 
that such object could not be more efficaciously attained than 
by the adoption of a system suited to the wants of the pop- 
ulations and conformable to the generous intentions already 
manifested by the Sovereign Pontiff, His Majesty the Em- 
peror of the French and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria 
will unite their efforts to obtain from His Holiness that the 
necessity of introducing into the administration of his States 
the Reforms admitted as indispensable shall be taken into 
serious consideration by his Government. 

G. Treaty of Turin. March 24, i860. De Clercq, Traitcs, 
VIII, 32-35. Translation, Herstlet, Map of Europe by Treaty, 
1429-1431. 

In the Name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. 
His Majesty the Emperor of the French having explained 
the considerations which, in consequnce of the changes which 



574 EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 

have arisen in the Territorial relations between France and 
Sardinia, caused him to desire the Annexation of Savoy and 
the Arrondissement of Nice (Circo'ndario di Nizza) to France, 
and His Majesty the King of Sardinia having shown himself 
disposed to acquiesce in it, their said Majesties have decided 
to conclude a Treaty for that purpose. 

I. His Majesty the King of Sardinia consents to the An- 
nexation of Savoy and the Arondissement of Nice (Circon- 
dario di Nizsa) to France, and renounces for himself, and 
all his Descendants and Successors, in favour of His Majesty 
the Emperor of the French, his Rights and Titles over the said 
Territories. It is understoofl between their Majesties that 
this Annexation shall be effected without any constraint of the 
wishes of the Populations, and that the Governments of the 
Emperor of the French and of the King of Sardinia will con- 
cert as soon as possible upon the best means of appreciating 
and verifying the manifestation of those wishes. 



117. Documents upon the Evolution of the Liberal Empire. 

These documents show the steps by which the autocratic re- 
gime of the first eight years of the Second Empire was gradually 
modified and the character of the system finally evolved out of 
These changes. Three things should be noted in connection with 
each document: (1) the concession nominally extended; (2) re- 
strictions and qualifications placed upon the concessions, if any ; 
(8) concessions withdrawn to counterbalance those extended, if 
any. 

Reffrences. Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern 
FrtLnee, 229-231 ; Seignobos, Europe Since ISU, 176-184 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 169-186, passim; Lavisse and Rambaud. His- 
toire Generale, XI, 162-198, passim. 

A. Imperial Decree upon the Address to the Throne. 
November 24, i860. Duvergier, Lois, LX, 592-593- 

Napoleon, etc., wishing to give to the great bodies of the 
State a more direct participation in the general policy of 
our government and a striking testimonial of our confidence, 
we have decreed : 

I. The Senate and the Corps-Legislatif shall vote every 



EVOLUTION OP THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 575 

year at the opening of the session, an .address in response to 
our speech. 

2. The address shall be discussed in the presence of the 
commissioners of the government, who shall give to the cham- 
bers all the necessary explanations upon the internal and for- 
eign policy of the Empire. 

3. In order to facilitate for the Corps-Legislatif the ex- 
pression of its opinion in the formation of the laws and the 
exercise of the right of amendment, article 54 of our decree of 
March 22, 1852, is again put in force, and the rule of the 
Corps-Legislatif is modified in the following manner : 

"Immediately after the distribution of the projects of law 
and upon the day fixed by the president, the Corps-Legislatif, 
before appointing its commission, meets in secret committee : 
a concise discussion is opened upon the project of law, and 
the commissioners of the government take part in it." 

"The present provision is not applicable to projects of 
law of local interest nor in the case of urgency." 

4. With the intent of rendering the reproduction of the 
debates of the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif more prompt 
and more complete, the following project for a senatus- 
consultum shall be presented to the Senate ; 

"The minutes of the sittings of the Senate and the Corps- 
Legislatif, drawn up by the secretary-editors placed under the 
authority of the president of each assembly, are addressed each 
evening to all the newspapers. In addition, the debates of each 
sitting are repioduced by stenography and inserted in extenso 
in the official newspaper of the next day." 

5. The Emperor shall designate ministers without port- 
folio to defend before the chambers, in concert with the pres- 
ident and members of the Council of State, the projects of law 
of the government. 

6. The ministers without portfolio have the rank and the 
compensation of the ministers in office : they form part of 
the council of ministers and are housed at the expense of the 
State. 

7. Our minister of State (M. Walewski) is charged, etc, 

B. Senatus-Consultum upon the Publication O'f Debates. 
February 2, 1861. Duvcrgier, Lois, LXI, 50-58. 

Article 42 of the Constitution is modified as follows: 



576 



EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 



"The debates of the sittings of the Senate and the Corps- 
Legislatif are reproduced by stenography and inserted in exten- 
so in the official newspaper of the next day. 

In addition, the minutes of these sittings, drawn up by the 
secretar3'"-editors placed under the authority of the president of 
each assembly, are put each evening at the disposal of all the 
newspapers. 

The reports of the sittings of the Senate and the Corps- 
Legislatif by the newspapers, or any other method of publica- 
tion, shall consist only in the reproduction of the debates in- 
serted m extenso in the official newspaper, or the report drawn 
up under the authority of the president, in conformity with 
the preceding paragraphs. 

Nevertheless, when several projects or petitions shall have 
been discussed in one session, it shall be permissible to repro- 
duce only the debates relative to one of these projects or to a 
single one of these petitions. In that case, if the discussion 
is prolonged through several sittings, the publication must be 
continued up to and including the vote thereon. 

The Senate, upon the request of five members, can decide 
to form itself into secret committee. 

Article 13 of the senatus-consultuni of December 25, 1852, 
is abrogated in whatever is contrary to the present senatus- 
consultum. 

C. Senatus-Consultum upon the Budget. December 31, 
1861. Duvergier, Lois, LXI, 553-579. 

1. The budget of the expenses is presented to the Corps- 
Legislatif with its divisions into sections, chapters and articles. 

The budget of each minstry is voted by sections, in con- 
formity with the nomenclature appended to the present senatus- 
consultum. 

The distributions, by chapters, of the credits granted for 
each section, is regulated by decree of the Emperor, rendered 
in Council of State. 

2. Special decrees, rendered in the same form, can authorise 
transfers from one chapter to another in the budget of each 
ministry. 

3. Supplementary or extraordinary credits can be granted 
only by virtue of a law. 



EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 



577 



4. The provisions of existing laws in that which concerns 
the expenises of secret services remaining to be paid, the ex- 
penses of the departments, the communes, and the local ser- 
vices, and the assistance funds for expenses of public interest 
are not altered. 

5. Articles 4 and 12 of the senatus-consultum of December 
25, 1852, are modified in what they have contrary to the pres- 
ent senatus-consultum. 

[The nomenclature alluded to in article i is omitted.] 

D. Senatus-Consultum upon Amendments to the Consti- 
tution. July 18, 1866. Duvergier, Lois, LXVI, 318-326. 

1. The Constitution cannot be discussed by any public 
power other than the Senate proceeding in the forms which 
it determines. 

A petition having for its object any m.odification whatever 
or an interpretation of the Constitution can be reported in a 
general session only if the examination thereof has been author- 
ised by at least three out of the five bureaux of the Senate. 

2. All discussion having for its object the criticism or the 
modification of the Constitution is forbidden, also the publica- 
tion or reproduction thereof by the periodical press, by poster,?, 
or by non-periodical writings of the dimensions determined by 
paragraph i of article 9 of the decree of February 17, 1852. 

Petitions having for their object a modification or an inter- 
pretation of the Constitution can be made public only by the 
publication of the official report of the sitting at which they 
have been reported. 

Every infraction of the provisions of the present article 
constitutes a contravention punishable by a fine of from five 
hundred to ten thousand francs. 

3. Article 40 of the Constitution of January 14, 1852, is 
modified as follows : 

Article 40. I'he amendments adopted by the commission 
charged to examine a project of law are sent back to the 
Council of State by the president of the Corps-Legislatif. 

The amendments not adopted by the commission or by the 
Council of State can be taken into consideration by the Corps- 
Legislatif and sent back to the commission for a new exam- 
ination. 

19 



578 



EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 



If the commission does not propose any new -draft, or if 
that which it proposes is not adopted by the Council of State, 
the original text of the project alone is put in deliberation. 

4. The provision of article 41 of the Constitution of Jan- 
uary 14, 1852, which limits to three months the duration of 
the ordinary sessions of the Corps-Legislatif, is abrogated. A 
decree of the Emperor pronounces the closure of each session. 

The compensation allowed for the deputies of the Corps- 
Legislatif is fixed at twelve thousand five hundred francs for 
each ordinary session, whatever may be the duration thereof. 

In case of extraordinary session, the compensation con- 
tinues to be regulated in conformity with article 14 of the sen- 
atus-consultum of December 25, 1852. 

E. Imperial Decree upon Interpellation. January "19, 1867. 
Duvergier, Lois, LXVII, 21-22. 

Napoleon, etc., wishing to give to the discussions of the 
great bodies of State upon the foreign and internal policy of 
the government more utility and more ^accuracy, we have de- 
creed : 

1. The members of the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif 
can address interpellations to the government. 

2. Every request for interpellation must be written and 
signed by at least five members. This request explains briefly 
the object of the interpellations; it is delivered to the pres- 
ident, who communicates it to the minister of State and sends 
it to the examination of the bureaux. 

3. If two bureaux of the Senate or four bureaux of the 
Corps-Legislatif express the opinion that the interpellation can 
take place, the Chamber fixes the day of the discussion. 

4. After the closure of the discussion, the Chamber pro- 
nounces the order of the day pure and simple or sends it again 
to the government. 

5. The order of the day pure and simple has always prior- 
ity. 

6. The sending again to the government can be declared 
only in the following terms : "The Senate (or the Corps-Leg- 
islatif) calls the attention of the government to the object of 
the interpellations." In this case, an epitome of the delibera- 
tion is transmitted to the minister of State. 



EVOLUTION OP THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 579 

7. Each of the ministers, by a special delegation of the Em- 
peror, can be charged, in concert with the minister of State 
and the president and the members of the Council of State, 
to represent the government before the Senate and the Corps- 
Legislatif, in the discussion of affairs or of the projects of 
law. 

8. Articles i and 2 of our decree of November 24, i860, 
which enacted that the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif should 
vote every year at the opening of the session an address in 
response to our speech, are abrogated. 

9. Our muiister of State (M. Rouher) is charged, etc. 

F. Senatus-Consultum upon the Powers of the Senate. 
March 14, 1867. Duvergier, Lois, LXVII, 44-52. 

Article 26 of the Constitution is modified in the following 
manner: 

Art. 26. The Senate opposes the promulgation : 

I. Of laws which would be contrary to or would constitute 
an attack upon the Constitution, religion, morality, liberty of 
worship, personal liberty, the equality of citizens before the law, 
the inviolability of property, and the principle of the irremov- 
ablity of judges ; 

Of those which might compromise the defence of the ter- 
ritory. 

The Senate can, in addition, before proinouncing upon the 
promulgation of a law, decide by a resolution with a statement 
of reasons that this law shall be submitted to a new delibera- 
tion of the Corps-Legislatif. 

This new deliberation shall occur only in a subsequent ses- 
sion, unless the Senate has recognized that there is urgency. 

When, in a second deliberation, the Corps-Legislatif has 
adopted the law without changes, the Senate, taking it up 
again, deliberates only upon the question whether it opposes or 
not the promulgation of the law, in conformity with numbers 
I and 2 of the present article. 

G. Senatus-Consultum. September 8, 1869. Duvergier, 
Lo-is, LXIX, 268-289. 

I. The Emperor and the Corps-Legislatif have the introduc- 
tion of the laws. 



* 



58o EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 

2. The ministers are dependent only upon the Emperor. 
They dehberate in council under his presidency. 

They are responsible. 

They can be put in accusation only by the Senate. 

3. The ministers can be members of the Senate and the 
Corps-Legislatif. 

They have entrance into both assemblies and must be heard 
whenever the}^ demand it. 

4. The sittings of the Senate are public. The request of 
five members suflices for it to form itself into secret com- 
mittee. • 

5. The Senate, in indicating the modifications of which a 
law seems to it susceptible, can decide that it shall be sent back 
for a new deliberation of the Corps-Legislatif. 

It can, in any case, oppose the promulgation of the law. 

The law to the promulgation of which the Senate is op- 
posed cannot be again presented to the Corps-Legislatif in the 
same session. 

6. At the opening of each session, the Corps-Legislatif ap- 
points its president, vice-presidents and secretaries. 

It appoints its questors. 

7. Every member of the Senate and of the Corps-Leg- 
islatif has the right to address an interpellation to the govern- 
ment. 

Orders of the day, with statements of reasons, can be 
adopted. 

The return to the bureaux of an order of the day with a 
statement of reasons is a right when the government requests 
it. 

The bureaux appoint a commission, upon the summary- 
report of which the assembly pronounces. 

8. No amendment can be put in deliberation unless it has 
been sent to the commission charged to examine the project 
of law and communicated to the government. 

When the government and the commission do not agree, the 
Council of State gives its opinion and the Corps-Legislatif pro- 
nounces. 

9. The budget of expenses is presented to the Corps-Legis- 
latif by chapters and articles. 

The budget of each m.inistry is voted by chapters, in con- 



EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 581 

formity with the nomenclature annexed to the present senatus- 
consultum. 

10. Future modifications by international treaties in the 
schedules of the custom-duties and the postoffice shall become 
binding only in virtue of a law. 

11. The existing constitutional relations between the gov- 
ernment of the Emperor, the Senate, and the Corps-Legislatif 
can be modified only by a senatus-consultum. 

The regular relations between these authorities are estab- 
lished by imperial decree. 

The Senate and the Corps-Legislatif frame their own in- 
ternal regulations. 

12. All provisions contrary to the present senatus-con- 
sultum, and in particular articles 8 and 13, the .second par- 
agraph of article 24, articles 26 and 40, the fifth paragraph of 
article 42, the first paragraph of article 43 and article 44 of 
the Constitution ; articles 3 and 5 of the senatus-consultum of 
December 25, 1852 ; article i of the senatus-consultum of De- 
cember 31, 1861, are abrogated. 

[The nomenclature alluded to in article nine is omitted.] 

H, Senatus-Consultum. May 21, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXX, 123-128. 

Napoleon, etc., in view of our decree of April 23 last, 
which convoked the French people in their assemblies, in order 
to accept or reject the following plebiscite : 

"The people approve the liberal reforms effected in the Con- 
stitution since i860 by the Emperor with the co-operation of the 
great bodies of the State, and ratify the senatus-consultum of 
April 20, 1870;" 

In view of the declaration of the Corps-Legislatif which 
attests that the operations of the vote have been regularly 
carried out , that the general return of the votes cast upon the 
project of plebiscite has given seven million three hundred 
and fifty thousand one hundred forty-two ballots bearing the 
word, yes ; fifteen hundred thirty-eight thousand eight hundred 
and twenty-five bearing the word, no ; one hundred twelve 
thousand nine hundred and seventy-five invalid ballots ; 

We have sanctioned and promulgated as law of the State 



582 EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 

the senatus-consultum adopted by the Senate, April 20, 1870, 
and of the following tenor : 

Senatus-Consultum Establishing the Constitution of 
THE Empire. 

title I. 

1. The Constitution recognizes, confirms and guarantees 
the grand principles proclaimed in 1789 and which are the 
basis of the public law of the French. 

title il of the imperial dignity and of the regency. 

2. The imperial dignity, re-established in the person of 
Napoleon III by the plebiscite of November 21 and 22, 1852, 
is hereditary in the direct and legitimate lineage of Louis- 
Napoleon Bonaparte, from male to male, by order of primo- 
geniture, and to the perpetual exclusion of women and their 
descendants. 

3. Napoleon III, if he has no male child, can adopt the 
children and the legitimate descendants in the masculine line 
of the brothers of the Emperor Napoleon I. 

The forms of adoption are regulated by a law. 

If, after the adoption, male children come to Napoleon III, 
his adopted sons can be called to succeed him only after his 
legitimate descendants. 

Adoption is forbidden to the successors of Napoleon III 
and their descendants. 

4. In default of legitimate heirs, direct or adopted. Prince 
Napoleon (Joseph-Charles-Paul) and his direct and legitimate 
descendants, from male to male, by order of primogeniture 
and to the perpetual exclusion of women and their descend- 
ants, are called to the throne. 

5. In default of legitimate or adopted heirs of Napoleon 
III and his successors in the collateral line who obtain their 
rights from the preceding article, the people select the Emperor 
and regulate, within his family, the order of inheritance from. 
male to male, to the perpetual exclusion of women and their 
descendants. 

The project of plebiscite is successively deliberated upon 
by the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif, upon the proposal 
of the ministers, formed into council of government. 

Until the moment at which the election of the new Em- 



EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 583 

peror is completed, the affairs of the State are governed by 
the ministers in office, who form themselves into a council of 
government and determine by the majority of votes. 

6. The members of the family of Napoleon III called 
eventually to the inheritance and their descendants oi both 
sexes form part of the imperial family. 

They cannot marry without the authorisation of the Em- 
peror. Their marriage without that authorisation entails 
deprivation of all right to the inheritance, both for the one 
who has contracted it and his descendants. 

Nevertheless, if there are no children from this marriage, 
in case of dissolution caused by decease, the prince who has 
contracted it recovers his rights to the inheritance. 

The Emperor determines the titles and the status of the 
other members of his family. 

He has full authority over them; he regulates their duties 
and their rights by statutes which have the force of law. 

7. The regency of the Empire is regulated by the senatus- 
consultum of July 17, 1856. 

8. The members of the imperial family called eventually 
to the inheritance take the title of French Princes. 

The eldest son of the Emperor bears the title of Prince 
Imperial. 

9. The French Princes are members of the Senate and of 
the Council of State when they have reached the age of eight- 
een completed years. They can sit therein only with the ap- 
proval of the Emperor. 

TITLE HI. FORMS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE EMPEROR. 

10. The Emperor governs with the assistance of the min- 
isters, the Senate, the Corps-Legislatif, and the Council of 
State. 

11. The legislative power is exercised collectively by the 
Emperor, the Senate, and the Corps-Legislatif. 

12. The introduction of the laws belongs to the Emperor, 
the Senate and the Corps-Legislatif. 

The projects of law emanating from the initiative of the 
Emperor can at his option be transmitted to either the Senate 
or the Corps-Legislatif. 

Nevertheless, every tax-law must be first voted by the 
Corps-Legislatif. 



584 EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 

TITLE IV. OF THE EMPEROR. 

13. The Emperor is responsible to the French people, to 
whom he has always the right to make appeal. 

14. The Emperor is the Head of the State. He commands 
the land and naval forces, declares war, makes treaties of 
peace, alliance and commerce, appoints to all offices, makes 
the rules and decrees necess?.ry for the execution of the laws. 

15. Justice is rendered in his name. 

The irremovability of the judges is maintained. 

16. The Emperor has the right to pardon and to grant am- 
nesties. ' 

17. He sanctions and promulgates the laws. 

18. Future modifications by international treaties in the 
schedules of the custom-duties and the postoffice shall be bind- 
ing only in virtue of a law. 

19. The Emperor appoints and removes the ministers. 
The ministers deliberate in council under the presidency of 

the Emperor. 

They are responsible. 

20. The ministers can be members of the Senate or of the 
Corps-Legislatif. 

They have entrance into both assemblies and must be 
heard whenever they request it. 

21. The ministers, the members of the Senate, of the Corps- 
Legislatif and of the Council of State, the officers of the army 
and navy, the judges and the public functionaries take the 
following oath : 

'''/ swear obedience to the Constitution and -fidelity to the 
Emperor" 

22. The senatus-consulta of December 12, 1852, and of 
April 23, 1856, upon the endowment of the crown and the civil 
list, remain in force. 

However, there shall be a law enacted in the case provided 
for by articles 8, 11 and 16 of the senatus-consultum of De- 
cember 12, 1852. 

For the future, the endowment of the crown and the civil 
list shall be fixed, for the entire duration of the reign, by the 
[first?] legislature which shall meet after the accession of the 
Emperor. 



EVOLUTION OF THE LIBERAL EMPIRE 585 

TITLE V. OF THE SENATE. 

23. The Senate is composed : 

1st. Of the cardinals, marshals and admirals. 
2d. Of the citizens whom the Emperor raises to the dignity 
of senator. 

24. The decrees of appointment of the senators are indi- 
vidual. They recount the services and indicate the titles upon 
which the appointment is based. 

No other condition can be imposed upon the choice of the 
Emperor. 

25. Senators are irremovable and for life. 

26. The number of the senators can be brought to tv/o- 
thirds of that of the members of the Corps-Legislatif, including 
therein the senators ex-oiUcio. 

The Emperor cannot appoint more than twenty .senators 
per annum. 

27. The president and vice-president of the Senate are ap- 
pointed by the Emperor and chosen from among the senators. 

They are appointed for one year. 

28. The Emperor convokes and prorogues the Senate. 
He pronounces the closure of the sessions. 

29. The sittings of the Senate are public. 

Nevertheless, the Senate can form itself into secret com- 
mittee in the case and according to the conditions determined 
by its rule. 

30. The Senate discusses and votes the projects of law. 

TITLE VL OF THE CORPS-LEGISLATIF. 

31. The deputies are elected by universal suffrage, without 
scrutin de liste. 

32. They are elected for a term which cannot be less than 
six years. 

2,3- The Corps-Legislatif discusses and votes the projects 
of law. 

34. The Corps-Legislatif elects, at the opening of each 
session, the members who compose its bureau. 

35. The Emperor convokes, adjourns, prorogues and dis- 
solves the Corps-Legislatif. 

in case of dissolution, the Emperor shall convoke a new 
one within a period of six months. , 

The Emperor pronounces the closure of the Corps-Legislatif. 



c86 THE PERSIGNY CIRCULAR 

36. The sittings of the Corps-Legislatif are pubhc. 

Nevertheless, the Corps-Legislatif can form itself into secret 
committee in the cases and according to the conditions deter- 
mined by its rule. 

TITLE VII. OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. 

yj. The Council of State is charged, under the direction of 
the Emperor, to draw up the projects of law and the rules of 
public administration, and to settle the difficulties which arise 
in matters of administration. 

38. The Council carries on, in the name of the government, 
the discussion of the projects of law before the Senate and 
the Corps-Legislatif. 

39. The Councillors of State are appointed by the Emperor 
and are removable by him. 

40. The ministers have rank, sitting and deliberative voice 
in the Council of State. 

TITLE VIII. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

41. The right of petition is exercised before the Senate 
and the Corps-Legislatif. 

42. Articles 19, 25, 2.^], 28, 29, 30, 31, 2^'^, -t,:}) of the Con- 
stitution of January 14, 1852 ; article 2 of the senatus-consultum 
of December 25, 1852 ; articles 5 and 8 of the senatus-con- 
sultum of September 8, 1869; and all the provisions contrary to 
the present Constitution are abrogated. 

43. The provisions of the Constitution of January 14, 1852, 
and those of the senatus-consulta promulgated since that date 
which are not included in the present Constitution and are not 
abrogated by the preceding article have the force of law. 

44. The Constitution can be modified only by the people, 
upon the proposal of the Emperor. 

45. The changes and the additions effected in the plebiscite 
of December 20 and 21, 1851, by the present Constitution shall 
be submitted to the approval of the people in the forms deter- 
mined by the decrees of December 2 and 4, 1851, and November 
7. 1852. 

However, the balloting shall t:ontinue but a single day. 

118. The Persigny Circular. 

May 8, 1S63. Moniteur, May 9, 1863.' 

This letter w,as sent to the prefects by the minister of the in- 



THE PERSIGNi CIRCULAR 587 

lerior, Persigny, during the electoral campaign of 1863, It shows 
something of the methods by which the imperial government in- 
fluenced the elections and gives in concise form a number of the 
principal arguments employed in defence of the imperial regime. 

ReferexNce. Andrews. Modern Europe, II, 171-172. 

Paris, May 8, 1863. 

Mr. Prefect. 

The elections which are being prepared for will be for 
France a new opportunity to strengthen before Europe the in- 
stitutions which it has given itself. 

Under these circumstances I scarcely need to remind you 
of the principles which ought to serve you for guidance. You 
will not forget that the Empire is the expression of the needs, 
feelings, and interests of the masses, and that, before rallying 
to it all the living forces of the nation, it was in the cottage of 
the people that it passed its infancy. 

Strong in his providential origin, the Elect of the people 
has realized all the hopes of France, which he found in anarchy, 
misery and abasement, into which the regime of the rhetoricians 
had thrown it, and a few years have sufficed for him to raise 
it to the highest degree of wealth and grandeur. 

We know how in this country distracted by so many rev- 
olutions, political, social and religious order has been restored, 
and the security of persons and property established as it never 
had 'been ; how, in ten years, wealth in personal property has 
been doubled and wealth in lands augmented by 7 to 8 milliards, 
and the public revenue increased by 300 millions ; how the 
territory has been ploughed over with macadamised roads, 
highways and cross roads, and enriched with innumerable pub- 
lic works ; how, finally, the glorious triumphs of our armies and 
the high influence yielded to our policy abroad have come to 
crown a development of prosperity until now without ex- 
ample in the world. 

History will tell by what prodigies of wisdom, courage 
and skill, the Elect of the people has accomplished all these 
things; but it will reveal also the secret of his astonishing 
fortune, I mean to say the absolute confidence, the touching 
fidelity with which, in peace or in war, in bad as well 



588 



THE PERSIGNY CIRCULAR 



as in good circumstances, the French people have not ceased 
to support, surround and defend him. 

It is to this confidence that the Emperor again makes ap- 
peal. He asks from the country a legislature which . 
will be as devoted as the two preceding and will have no other 
preoccupation than the future of the Empire. 

Mr. Prefect, if in France, as in England, parties were 
divided only upon the conduct of afifairs, but were all equally 
attached to our fundamental institutions, the Government could 
confine itself in the elections to attendance upon the conflict 
of opinions. But in a country such as lOurs, which, after so 
niany convulsions, has been sei'lously constituted only for ten 
years past, that regular play of parties, which with our neigh- 
bors so happily makes the public liberties fruitful, would at 
present result only in prolonging revolution and in compro- 
mising liberty; for with us there are parties which are still 
only factions. Formed out of the debris of overturned gov- 
ernments, and although enfeebled each day by time, which alone 
can cause them to disappear, they seek to penetrate to the heart 
of our institutions only in order to vitiate the principles upon 
which these rest, and they invoke liberty only in order to 
turn it against the State. 

In the presence of a coalition of animosities, rancors and 
ill-humors opposed to the great things of the Empire, your duty, 
Mr. Prefect, is quite naturally traced. Filled with the liberal 
and democratic spirit of our institutions, which the Emperor 
applies himself every day to develop, you will address yourself 
only to the reason and heart of the people. Allow everybody 
to freely produce candidatures, to publish and distribute pro- 
fessions of faith and ballots, according to the forms prescribed 
by our laws. Look after the maintenance of order and the 
regularity of the electoral operations. It is for everybody a 
right and for you a duty to combat energetically all disloyal 
maneuvers, intrigue, surprise and fraud, and, lastly, to assure 
the liberty and sincerity of the ballot and the honesty of the 
election. 

The suffrage is free. But, in order that the good faith of 
the people may not be deceived by skillful tongues, or by equiv- 
ocal professions of faith, designate openly, as in preceding 
elections, the candidates who impart the most confidence 



LAW UPON PUBLIC MEETINGS 589 

to the Government. Let the people know who are friends or 
the more or less disguised adversaries of the Empire, and let 
them pronounce in entire liberty, but in perfect knowledge of 
the case. 

We are no longer in the time when elections were in the 
hands of a small number of privileged persons who disposed 
of the destinies of the country. Thanks to the Emperor, who 
has known how to resist, both former and recent attempts of 
all the parties to restrict universal suffrage, and who has de- 
termined to maintain the right of every Frenchman to be an 
elector, France to-day, in possession of the most extensive 
suffrage that exists in Europe, counts 10 million electors, 
voting by secret ballot, each having to render account for his 
vote only to God and to his own conscience : it is the entire na- 
tion which, mistress of itself, cannot be dominated, forced 
nor corrupted by anj^body. 

Receive, Mr. Prefect, the assurance of my very distin- 
guished consideration. The Minister of the Interior. 

F. DE Persigny. 



119. Law upon Public Meetings. 

June 6, 1868. Duvergier, Lois, LXVIII, 186-208. 

This law shows how the right to hold public meetings was re- 
stricted under the Second Empire. It should be noted that the 
system outlined in this law is a "liberal concession," being less 
restrictive than that in force from 1852 tq 1868. 

Refekences. Seignobos, Europe Since 1811^, 179 ; Lavisse ^.nd 
Rambaud, Tlistoirc Generale, XI, 185. 



TITLE I. OF NON-POLITICAL PUBLIC MEETINGS. 

1. Public meetings can take place without previous author- 
isation, under the conditions prescribed in the following arti- 
cles. 

Nevertheless, public meetings whose object is to treat of 
political or religious matters continue to be subject to that 
authorisation. 

2. Each meeting must be preceded by a declaration signed 



590 



LAW UPON PUBLIC MEETINGS 



by»seven persons who are domiciled in the canton in which it 
must take place and who are in the enjoyment of their civil 
and political rights. 

This declaration sets forth the names, status and domiciles 
of the declarants and the place, day and hour of sitting, as well 
as the definite and particular purpose of the meeting. 

At Paris, it is sent to the prefect of police; in the depart- 
ments, to the prefect or sub-prefect- 

A receipt for it, which must be presented at every requisition 
of the agents of authority, is immediately given. 

The meeting cannot take placp until three full days after the 
delivery of the receipt. 

3. A meeting can be held only in a closed and covered 
place. It cannot be prolonged beyond the hour fixed by the 
competent authority for the closing of public places. 

4. Each meeting must have a bureau composed of a pres- 
ident and of at least two assistants who are charged to main- 
tain order in the assembly and to prevent any infraction of 
the laws. 

The members of the bureau must not tolerate the discussion 
of any question foreign to the purpose of the meeting. 

5. A functionary of the judicial or administrative corps, 
delegated by the administration, can be present at the meeting. 

He must be invested with his symbols and takes a place at 
his choice. 

6. The functionary who is present at the meeting has the 
right to pronounce its dissolution: ist, if the bureau, although 
cautioned, allows questions foreign to the purpose of the meet- 
ing to be brought under discussion ; 2d, if the meeting becomes 
turbulent. 

The persons assembled are required to separate at the first 
requisition. 

The delegate draws up a record of the facts and transmits 
it to the competent authority. 

TITLE II. OF PUBLIC ELECTORAL MEETINGS. 

8. Electoral meetings can be held from the promulgation of 
the degree of convocation of a college for the election of a 
deputy to the Corps-Legislatif until the fifth day before that fix- 
ed for the opening of the ballot. 



THE BENEDETTI TREATY 



591' 



Only the electors of the electoral circumscription and the 
candidates who have fulfilled the formalities prescribed by ar- 
ticle I of the senatus-consultum of February 17, 1858, can be 
present at this meeting. 

In order to be admitted they must make known their names, 
status and domicile. 

The meeting cannot take place until one full day after the 
delivery of the receipt w^hich must immediately follow the dec- 
laration. 

All the other requirements of articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are 
applicable to electoral meetings. 



120. The Proposed Benedetti Treaty. 

August 20, 1866. Translation, Me'isages and Documents, De- 
partment of State, 1870-'71, 109. 

This document may be regarded as a type of numerous pro- 
posals made to Prussia by Napoleon III for the purpose of se- 
curing to France some territorial compensation as reward for its 
neutrality during the German wars, 1864-1866. Quite different 
accounts of this transaction are given by Bismarcli and Benedetti, 
the French minister at Berlin. The original is in the handwriting 
of Benedetti, but he declares tliat he wrote at the dictation of 
Bismarck. The document was made public by Bismarck at the 
beginning of the Franco-Prussian war. 

Refere^-^ces. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 381-385 (Popular ed., 
in"59-961) : Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 253-254; Headlam, Bis- 
marcli, 262-283. 



His Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the 
Emperor of the French, deeming it useful to draw closer 
the bonds of friendship which unite them, and to consolidate 
the relations of good neighborhood happily existing between 
the two countries, and being convinced, on the other hand, 
that to attain this result, which is calculated besides to assure 
the maintenance of the general peace, it behooves them to 
come to an understanding on questions which concern their 
future relations, have resolved to conclude a treaty to this 
effect and named in consequence as their plenipotentiaries, that 
is to say : 



592 THE BENEDETTl TREATY 

His Majesty, &c., &c. 

His Majesty, &c., &c. 

Who, having exchanged their full powers, found to be 
in good and proper form, have agreed upon the following 
articles : 

Article I. His Majesty the Emperor of the French admits 
and recognizes the acquisitions which Prussia has made as 
the result of the last war which she sustained against Austria 
and her allies, [as also the arrangements ado'pted or to he 
adopted for constituting a confederation in North Germany, 
engaging at the same time to render his support for the main- 
tenance of that work.] 

Article 11. His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to 
facilitate the acquisition of Luxemburg by France. To that 
effect his aforesaid Majesty will enter into neigotiatioos with 
His Majesty the King of the Netherlands to induce him to 
cede to the Emperor of the French his sovereign rights over 
that duchy in return for such compensation as shall be deemed 
sufficient or otherwise. . 

Article HI. His Majesty the Emperor of the French 
will not oppose a federal union of the confederation of the 
North with the Southern States of Germany, with the ex- 
ception of Austria, which union may be based on a common 
parliament, the sovereignty of the said states being duly re- 
spected. 

Article IV. On his part his Majesty the King of Prussia, 
in case his Majesty the Emperor of the French should be 
obliged by circumstances to cause his troops to enter Bel- 
gium, or to conquer it, will grant the succour {co-operationi 
of his arms to France, and will sustain her with all his forces 
of land and sea against every power which, in that eventuality, 
should declare war upon her. 

Article V. To insure the complete execution of the 
above arrangements, his Majesty the King of Prussia and 
his Majesty the Emperor of the French contract, by the 
present treaty, an alliance, offensive and defensive, which they 
solemnly engage to maintain. Their Majesties engage, more- 
over, and specifically, to observe it in every case in which 
their respective states, of which they mutually guarantee the 
integrity, should be menaced by aggression, holding themselves 



THE EMS DESPATCH 



593 



bound in such a conjuncture to make without delay, and not 
to dechne on any pretext, the military arrangements which may 
be demanded by their common interest, conformably tO' the 
clauses and provisions above set forth. 



121. The Ems Despatch. 

July 13, 1S70. Preu88icJie Jahrhucher, LXXXII, 46-47. 

This famous dispatch was an important factor in bringing on 
the Franco-Prussian war. The original version was sent to Bis- 
marck by order of King William. The published version was ed- 
ited from the original by Bismarck and printed with striking 
head-lines in the semi-official North German Gazette. The two 
should be carefully compared and all differences noted, especially 
with reference to the question whether the effect actually pro- 
duced by the published version was different from that which 
would probably have resulted from the publication of the original 
dispatch. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 810 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 269-270 : Bismarck, Reflections and Reminis- 
cences, II, 93-103 ; Headlam, Bismarck, 337-342 ; Von Sybel, The 
Foundino of the German Empire, VII, 393-401 ; Lavisse and Ram- 
baud, llistoiic Generale, XI, 776. 



ORIGINAL. 

Ems, July 13, 1870. 
His Majesty the King writes 
me : 

"Count Benedetti inter- 
cepted me upon the prome- 
nade in order finally to de- 
mand from me, in a very- 
pressing manner, that I, should 
authorise him to immediately 
telegraph to Paris that I for 
all the future pledge myself 
never again to give my con- 
sent, if the Hohenzollerns 
should return to their candi- 
dacy. I finally refused him 
somewhat earnestly, since one 
would neither dare nor be 



PUBLISHED. 

"Ems, July 13, 1870. After 
the new.<4 of the renunciation 
of the Hereditary Prince of 
Hohenzollern had been ofifi- 
cially communicated to the 
French Imperial Government 
by the royal Spanish [govern- 
ment], the French minister 
has still brought to His Maj- 
esty at Ems the demand, 
that he be authorised to tel- 
egraph to Paris that His 
Majesty the King pledges 
himself for all the future 
never again to give his con- 
sent, if the Hohenzollerns 
should resume their Candida- 



594 



THE EMS DESPATCH 



able to take such an engage- 
ment a tout jamais. Nat- 
urally I said to 'him that I 
had as yet received nothing, 
and, since he was earlier in- 
formed about Paris and Ma- 
drid than I, he might well 
perceive that my government 
may be again out of the 
game." 

His Majesty has since re- 
ceived a message from the 
Prince. Since His Majesty 
said to Count Benedetti that 
he was expecting news from 
the Prince, His Majesty, with 
reference to the above men- 
tioned demand, upon the sug- 
gestion of Count Eulenburg 
and myself, has determined 
not to receive Count Ben- 
edetti again, but only to per- 
mit it to be said to him 
through an adjutant that His 
Majesty has now received 
from the Prince the news of 
the renunciation, which Ben- 
edetti already had received 
from Paris, and has nothing 
further to say to the minister. 

His Majesty leaves with 
Your Excellency whether the 
new demand of Benedetti and 
its immediate rejection should 
be communicated to our min- 
isters as well as to the press. 
Signed, Abeken. 



cy. His Majesty the King has 
thereupon refused to receive 
the French m^inister, and has 
permitted him to be told 
through the service adjutant 
that His Majesty has nothing 
further to communicate to 
the French minister." 



THE 4TH OF SEPTEMBER 595 

122. Documents upon the Fourth of September. 

'^^■ben the French dis,aster at Sedan became Known at Paris 
the iiniieiial p,-ovornment was prompcly overthrown and a pro- 
visional government created. These documents throw light upon 
the spirit and the ideas which animated the new government. 
Careful attention to the phraseology of the documents will bring 
out some important features of the situation. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 447-448 (Popular ed., 
1002-1003) ; Seignobos, Ettrope Since ISU, 187-189; Coubertin, Ev- 
oiuiion of France under the Third Repuhlic, 1-6. 

A. Proclamation to the French People. September 4, 1870. 
Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 319-320. 

Frenchmen ! 

The people have outstripped the Chamber, which was hes- 
itating. In order to save the endangered fatherland they have 
demanded the Republic. 

They have placed their representatives not in power, but 
in peril. 

The Republic vanquished invasion in 1792, the Republic 
is proclaimed. 

The Revolution is made in the name of the law and of 
the public safety. 

Citizens, watch over the City which is entrusted to you ; 
tomorrow you, v/ith the army, shall be the avengers of the 
fatherland ! 

B. Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Paris. September 
4, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

Citizens of Paris ! 

The Republic is proclaimed. 

A government has been selected by acclamation. 

It is composed of the citizens : Emmanuel Arago, Cre- 
mieux, Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, Gambetta, Gamier-Pages, 
Glais-Bizoin, Pelletan, Picard, Rochefort, Jules Simon, rep- 
resentatives of Paris. 

General Trochu is entrusted with full military powers for 
the national defence. He is summoned to the presidency of 
the government. 

The government begs the citizens to be calm; the people 
will not forget that they are in the face of the enemy. 



596 DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 

The government is before all a government of national 
defence. 

C. Decree upon the Corps-Legislatif and the Senate. 
September 4, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

The Government, etc., decrees : 

The Corps-Legislatif is dissolved. The Senate is abolished. 

D. Decree upon Political and Press Offenders. Septem- 
ber 4, 1870. Duvergier, Lois, LXX, 320. 

The Government, etc., decrees : 

Full and complete amnesty is granted to all condemned 
for political crimes and offences and for press offences from 
December 3, 1852, to September 3, 1870. All the condemned 
still in custody, whether the judgments have been rendered 
by the correctional tribunals, or by the assize courts, or by 
courts martial, shall be immediately placed at liberty. 



123. Diplomatic Circulars upon the Franco-Prussian War. 

These diplomatic circulars, designed for comniunication to the 
neutral governments, show the ideas of the French and Prussian 
governments upon the proper basis for peace. Each government 
will be seen to have formulated a program and adduced an argu- 
ment in its support. These should be carefully noted and com- 
pared. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 448-449 (Popular ed., 
1003); Hanotaux, Contemporary France, I, 14-16; Headlam, Bis- 
marck, 353-355 ; Sorel, Histoire Diplomatique de la Guerre Franco- 
Allemande, I, 296-299, 332-337. 

A. Circular to French Ministers. September 7, 1870. Jour- 
nal OfUciel, September 7, 1870. Translation, Messages and 
Documents, State Department, 1870-71, 139-140. 

Sir: The events which have just taken place at Paris 
explain themselves so v^ell by the inexorable logic of facts 
that it is useless to dv^ell at length upon their meaning and 
sdope. 

Yielding to an irresistible impulse, too long restrained, 
the people of Paris have obeyed a higher law, that of their 
own safety; they have not been willing to perish with the 
criminal power which was leading France to destruction; 



DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 



597 



they have not declared the downfall of Napoleon III and 
of his dynasty; they have registered it in the name of right 
and justice and of the public safety, and this sentence was 
so well ratified in advance by the co-nsciences of all that 
no one, even among the most noisy defenders of the falling 
power, has arisen to sustain it ; it has sunk itself under the 
weight of its faults, amid the acclamations of an immense 
people, without a drop of blood having been shed, without 
a person having been deprived of his liberty; and we 
have seen a thing, unheard of in history, the citizens, 
to whom the cry of the people confided the perilous task 
of fighting and conquering, not giving a moment's uneasiness 
to the adversaries, who yesterday threatened them with mil- 
itary execution. It is by refusing them the honor of any 
repression that they have plainly shown their blindness and 
impotence. Order has not been disturbed for a single mo- 
ment. Our confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of the 
national guard and of the entire population permits us to 
assert that it will not be. 

Delivered from the shame and danger of living under a 
governlnent which was recreant to all its duties, every one 
understands that the first act of this national sovereignty, 
reconquered at last, is to command itself, and to seek its 
strength in respect for the law. Moreover, time is pressing; 
the enemy is at cur gates ; we have but one thought — to drive 
him from our territory. But this obligation, which we res- 
olutely accept, has not been imposed upon France by us ; 
France would not now be under this obligation if our voice 
had been heard. We have energetically defended, even at 
the expense of our popularity, the policy of peace ; we shall 
persevere in doing so, with a still deeper conviction. Our 
heart bleeds at the sight of these inhuman massacres, where- 
by the flower of two nations is destroyed, which, with a 
little good sense and a great deal of liberty, would have been 
saved from these frightful catastrophes. We have no words 
to describe our admiration for our heroic army, sacrificed by 
the incompetency of the commander-in-chief, and yet ren- 
dered greater by its defeats than by the most brilliant vic- 
tories ; for, notwithstanding its knowledge of the faults which 
imperiled it, it has sublimely advanced to certain death, re- 



598 DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 

deeming the honor of France from the stains brought upon 
it by its government. Honor to it ! The nation opens its 
arms to it. The imperial power has sought to divide them; 
misfortunes and duty unite them in a solemn embrace, sealed 
by patriotism and liberty. This alliance renders us invincible. 
Prepared for everything, we calmly contemplate the situation 
which is presented to us. I will 'State this situation in a few 
words and submit my statement to my country and to Europe : 
We openly denounce war, and, protesting our respect for the 
rights of nations, we asked that Germany should be left 
mistress of her destinies; we <^esired that liberty should be 
at once our common bond and our common shield. We were 
convinced that these moral forces insured forever the main- 
tenance of peace ; but, by way of enforcement, we demanded a 
weapon for each citizen, a civic organization, and chosen 
chiefs. W^e then should have remained invulnerable on 
our own soil. The imperial government, which had long 
before separated its interests from those of the country,- re- 
jected this policy. We resume it, with the hope that, having 
been taught by experience, France will have the wisdom to 
practice it. 

On his part the King of Prussia has declared that he was 
making war, not against France, but against the imperial dy- 
nasty. The dynasty lies prostrate. Free France rises. Does 
the King of Prussia desire to continue an impious struggle 
which will be at least as fatal to him as to us? Does he 
desire to give to the world of the nineteenth century the 
cruel spectacle of two nations destroying one another, and 
which, forgetful of humanity, of reason, of science, pile up 
ruins and corpses? He may take his choice. Let him as- 
sume this responsibility to the world and to history. If it 
is a challenge we accept it. We will not yield an inch of 
our territory, nor a stone of our fortresses. A disgraceful 
peace would soon be followed by a war of extermination ; 
we will only treat for a durable peace. Herein lies our in- 
terest, and that of all Europe. We have reason to hope that, 
freed from every dynastic bias, the question will be thus put 
to the chanceries. But even if we must stand quite alone, 
we will not be discouraged. We have a resolute army, well- 
supplied forts, strong walls, but above all, the breasts of 



DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 599 

three hundred thousand fighting men, ready to hold out to 
the last. When they go piously to place garlands at the 
feet of the statue in Strasburg, they not only obey a sentiment 
of enthusiastic admiration, they take their heroic watch-word, 
they swear to be worthy of their brothers of Alsace, and to 
die like them. After the forts, the ramparts ; after the ram- 
parts, the barricades. Paris can hold out for three months, and 
conquer. If it should fall, France, rising at its call, would 
avenge it. It would continue the struggle, and the aggressor 
would perish. This, sir, is what Europe ought to know. We 
have not accepted power with any other object. We would 
not retain it a minute if*we did not find the population of 
Paris, and of all France, resolved to aid in carrying out this 
plan. I sum up our resolutions in one word. Before God, 
who hears us — before posterity, which will judge us, we only 
desire peace ; but if a destructive war, which we have de- 
nounced, be continued against us, we will do our duty to 
the end. I firmly trust that our cause, which is that of right 
and justice, will finally triumph. 

It is in this sense that I desire you to explain the situation 
to his excellency the Secretary of State, in whose hands you 
will place a copy of this document. 

Accept, sir, the expression of my high consideration. 
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
Jules Favre. 

B. Circular to Prussian Ministers, September 13, 1870. 
Translation, Messages and Documents^ State Department, 
iSyo-yi, 211-212. 

Rheims, September 13, 1870. 

In consequence of the erroneous ideas concerning our re- 
lations with France, which reach us even from friendly quar- 
ters, I am induced to express myself in the following lines 
in relation to the views of his Majesty the King, which are 
shared by the allied German governments. 

We thought we saw in the plebiscitum and the succeed- 
ing apparently satisfactory condition of things in France, 
a guarantee of peace, and the expression of a friendly feeling 
on the part of the French nation. Events have taught us 
the contrary; at least they have shown us how easily this 



6oo DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 

voice, among the French nation, is changed to its opposite. 
The almost unanimous majority of the representatives of 
the people, of the senate, and of the organs of public opinion 
among the press, demanded a war of conquest against us so 
loudly and emphatically that the isolated friends of peace 
were discouraged, and the Emperor Napoleon probably told 
his Majesty no untruth when he declared that the state of 
public opinion forced him to undertake the war. 

In the face of this fact we must not seek our guarantees 
in French feelings. We must not shut our eyes to the fact 
that, in consequence of this \yar, we must be prepared for 
a speedy attack from France again,- and not for a permanent 
peace, and that quite independently of any conditions which 
we may impose upon France. The French nation will never 
forgive us for the defeat in itself, nor for our victorious re- 
pulse of its wanton attack. If we should now withdraw from 
France, without any acquisition of territory, without any 
contribution, without any advantages save the glory won by 
our arms, the same hatred, the same desire for revenge on 
account of wounded pride and ambition, would remain among 
the French nation, and it would only await the day when 
it might hope successfully to indulge these feelings. It was 
not a doubt of the justice of our cause, nor was it an appre- 
hension that we might not be strong enough, that restrained 
us in the year 1867 from the war which was then offered us, 
but the fear of exciting those passions by our victories and 
of inaugurating an era of mutual animosity and constantly 
renewed wars, while we hoped, by a longer continuance and 
attentive care of the peaceful relations of both nations, to 
gain a firm foundation for an era of peace and welfare. Now. 
after having been forced into the war which we desired to 
avoid, we must seek to obtain better guarantees for our de- 
fence against the next attack of the French than those of their 
good feeling. 

The guarantees which have been sought since the year 
1815 against the same French desires and for the peace of 
Europe in the holy alliance and other arrangements made in 
the interest of Europe, have, in the course of time, lost their 
efficacy and significance ; so that Germany has finally been 
obliged to defend herself against France, depending solely up- 



DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 6oi 

on her own strength and her own resources. Such an effort as 
we are now making imposes such sacrifices upon the German 
nation that we are forced to seek material guarantees and the 
security of Germany against the future attacks of France, 
guarantees at the same time for the peace of Europe, which 
has nothing to fear from Germany. 

These guarantees we have to demand, not from a temporary 
government of France, but from the French nation, which 
has shown that it is ready to follow any government to war 
against us, as is indisputably manifested by the series of 
aggressive wars carried on for centuries by France against 
Germany. 

Our demands for peace can therefore only be desigrxcd 
to lay obstacles in the way of the next attack of France upon 
the German, and especially the hitherto defenceless South 
German frontier, by removing this frontier, and with it the 
point of departure of French attacks, further back, and by 
seeking to bring the fortresses with which France threatens us, 
as defensive bulwarks, into the power of Germany. 

You will express yourself in this sense, if any questions 
are asked of you. 

Bismarck. 

C. Circular to Prussian Ministers. September i6, 1870. 
Translation, Messages and Documents, State Department, 
1S70-71, 212-213. 

Meaux, September 16, 1870. 

You are aware of the contents of the document which Mr. 
Jules Favre has addressed to the representatives of France 
abroad, m the name of the present authorities in Paris, who 
style themiselves the government of the national defence. 

It has, at the same time, come to my knowledge, that Mr, 
Thiers has undertaken a confidential mission to several for- 
eign courts, and I presume that it will be his task, on the 
one hand to inspire confidence in the desire for peace of the 
present Paris government, and on the other tO' seek the inter- 
vention of neutral powers in favor of a peace designed to rob 
Germany of the fruits of her victory, and to prevent the 
establishment of any basis of peace which might lay obstacles 
in the way of the next French attack upon Germany. 



6o2 DIPLOMATIC CIRCULARS 

We cannot believe in the earnest intention of the present 
Paris government to put an end to the war, so long as it 
continues to excite the passions of the people by its language 
and its acts, to increase the hatred and the bitter feeling of 
the population, already excited by the sufferings caused by the 
war, and to condemn in advance as inadmissible for France, 
every basis of peace which can Tdc accepted by Germany. It 
thereby renders peace impossible, for which it should prepare 
the people by mild language, duly considering the serious na- 
ture of the situation, if it would lead us to believe that it 
aims at honest negotiations foi» peace with us. It could only 
be seriously supposed that we would now conclude an armis- 
tice without every security for our conditions of peace, if we 
were thought to lack military and political sagacity, and to 
be indifferent to the interests of Germany. 

Another thing which prevents the French from clearly com- 
prehending the necessity of peace with Germany, is the hope, 
which is encouraged by the present authorities, of a diplomatic 
or material intervention of neutral powers in favor of France. 
If "the French nation becomes convinced, that, as it alone 
voluntarily inaugurated the war, and as Germany has been 
obliged to carry on the contest alone, it will be compelled to 
settle the account with Germany alone, it will soon put an 
end to its now certainly useless resistance. It is cruelty on 
the part of neutral nations towards France if they permit the 
Paris government to encourage unrealizable hopes of interven- 
tion among the people and thereby to prolong the struggle. 

We are far from any desire to interfere in the internal 
affairs of France. It is a matter of indifference to us what 
sort of a government the French [people] may choose for 
itself. The government of the Emperor Napoleon is the only 
one which has been formally recognized by us. Our terms of 
peace, with whatever government, aut!horised for the purpose, 
we may have to negotiate them, are entirely independent of 
the question, how and by whom the French nation is gov- 
erned; they are dictated to us by the nature of the case, and 
by the law of self-defence against a turbulent and quarrelsome 
people on our frontier. The unanimous voice of the German 
governments and of the German people demands that Ger- 
many be protected by better boundaries than heretofore against 



EXECUTIVE POWER DECREES 6o.^ 

the threats and outrages which have been committed against 
us for centuries by all French governments. As long as 
France remains in possession of Strasburg and Metz her 
offensive is strategically stronger than our defensive, through- 
out the entire south and that portion of the north of Ger- 
many which lies on the left bank of the Rhine. Strasburg 
is, in the possession of France, a constantly open sally-port 
against South Germany. In the possession of Germany, on 
the other hand, Strasburg and Metz acquire a defensive char- 
acter. In more than twenty wars we have never been the 
aggressor against France, and we desire nothing from that 
country but our own safety, which has been so often jeop- 
ardized by it. France, on the contrary, will regard any peace 
which may now be concluded simply as a suspension of hos- 
tilities, and will again assail us, in order to be revenged for 
her present defeat, with just as little reason as she has done 
this year, as soon as she feels strong enough to do so, either 
through her own -.strength or through foreign alliances. 

In rendering it difficult for France (which has been the 
originator of every disturbance of the peace of Europe hith- 
erto) to act on the offensive, we are acting, at the same time, 
in the interest of Europe, which is that of peace. No dis- 
turbance of the peace of Europe is to be feared from Germany. 
Since the war has been forced upon us, which we have 
shunned for four years with the utmost care and at a sac- 
rifice of our national feeling, which has been incessantly hec- 
tored by France, we will demand security in future as the 
price of the gigantic eft'orts which we have been obliged to 
make in our defence. No one will be able to reproach us 
for want of moderation if we adhere to this just and reason- 
able demand. 

I desire you carefully to take cognizance of these ideas 
and present them for consideration in your interviews. 

Bismarck. 



124. Decrees and 'Laws upon the Executive Power. 

These documents exhibit in large measure the nature of the 
government of France during the presidency of Thiers. By com- 



6o4 



EXECUTIVE POWER DECREES 



bining what is enacted for some institutious and what is implied 
or declared with reference to others with what is carried over 
from the preceding decree, each of the documents may be regarded 
as a sort of provisional constitution of France. They should be 
examined in that light. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since ISl',, 194-197 ; Bodley, 
France^ I, 271-276 : Hanotaux, Contemporary France, I, 66-67, 265- 
270; 584-588; Simon, Government of Thiers, I, 76-80, II, 295-303; 
Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, XII, 2, 8, 12. 

A. Decree Appointing Thiers. February 17, 1871. Du- 
vergier, Lois, LXXI, 54-55. 

The National Assembly, 'depository of the sovereign 
authority, 

Considering that it is necessary, while awaiting what may 
be enacted as to the institutions of France, to provide imme- 
diately for the necessities of the- Government and for the con- 
duct of the negotiations, decrees : 

M. Thiers is appointed Head of the Executive Power of 
the French Republic ; he shall exercise his functions, under 
the authority of the National Assembly, with the assistance 
of the ministers whom he shall have chosen and over whom he 
shall preside. 

B. The Rivet Law. August 31, 1871. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXXI, 210-212. 

The National Assembly, 

Considering that it has the right to use the constituent 
power, an essential .attribute of the sovereignty with which 
it is invested, and that the imperative duties, which at the first 
it was bound to imjpose upon itself and which are still far 
from being completed, have alone prevented until now the 
use of this power ; 

Considering that, until the establishment of the definitive 
institutions of the country, it is essential for the needs of labor^ 
the interests of commerce, and the development of industry, 
that our provisional institutions should take in the eyes of 
all, if not that stability which is the work of time, at least 
such that they may assure the harmony of feeling and the ap- 
peasment of parties ; 

Considering that a new title, a more precise appellation. 



EXECUTIVE POWER DECREES 605 

without in any degree altering the basis of things, can have the 
effect of putting better in evidence the intention of the Assem- 
bly to continue freely the loyal experiment begun at Bor- 
deaux ; 

That the prolongation of the functions conferred upon the 
Head of the Executive Powder, limited henceforth to the 
duration of the labors of the Assembly, may free these func- 
tions from what they may seem to have of instability and pre- 
cariousness, without the sovereign rights of the Assembly 
suffering the least injury, since in any case the final determin- 
ation belongs to the Assembly; and that an aggregation of 
new guarantees is about to assure the maintenance of these 
parliamentary privileges, at once the safeguard and the honor 
of the country; 

Taking into consideration, moreover, the distinguished ser- 
vices rendered to the country by M. Thiers during the past 
six months and the guarantees which the continuance of the 
power that he holds from the Assembly presents; 

Decrees : 

1. The Head of the Executive Power shall take the title 
of President of the French Republic and shall continue to ex- 
ercise, under the authority of the National Assembly, as long 
as it shall not have terminated its labors, the functions which 
were delegated to him by the decree of February 17, 1871. 

2. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
as soon as they are transmitted to him by the president of 
the National Assembly. 

He secures and supervises the execution of the laws. 

He resides at the place where the National Assembly sits. 

He is heard by the National Assembly whenever he believes 
it necessary and after he has informed the president of 
the National Assembly of his wish. 

He appoints and dismisses the ministers. The council of 
ministers and the ministers are responsible to the Assembly. 

Each of the acts of the President of the Republic must 
be countersigned by a minister. 

3. The President of the Re!public is responsible to the 
Assembly. 



6o6 EXECUTIVE POWER DECREES 

C. Law upon the Presidency. March 13, 1873. Duvergier, 
Lois, LXXIII, 51-63. 

The National Assembly, 

Reserving in its entirety the constituent power v/hich be- 
longs to it, but wishing to bring about improvements in the 
distribution of the public powers, decrees : 

1. The law of August 31, 1871, is modified as follows : 
The President of the Republic communicates with the As- 
sembly by messages which, with the exception of those with 
which the sessions are opened,* are read at the tribune by a 
minister. 

Nevertheless, he shall be heard by the Assembly in the 
discussion of the laws, when he shall deem it necessary, and 
after he has informed it of his wish by a message. 

The discussion upon the occasion at which the President of 
the Republic expresses a wish to take the word is suspended 
after the receipt of the message, and the President shall be 
heard the next day, unless a special vote decides that he shall 
be heard the same day. The sitting is terminated after he 
has been heard, and the discussion is resumed only at a sub- 
sequent sitting. The discussion occurs outside of the presence 
of the President of the Republic. 

2. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws de- 
clared urgent within three days, and the non-urgent laws 
within the month following the vote of the Assembly. 

Within the space of three days, when a law that has not 
been submitted to three readings is in question, the President 
of the Republic shall have the right to demand, by a message 
with a statement of reasons, a new deliberation. 

For the laws submitted to the formality of the three read- 
ings, the President of the Republic shall have the right, 
after the second, to demand that the placing of it as the order 
of the day for the third deliberation be fixed only after the 
space of two months. 

3. The provisions of the preceding article shall not apply 
to the acts in which the National Assembly shall exercise the 
constituent power that is reserved in the preamble of the pres- 
ent law. 

4. Interpellations can be addressed only to the ministers, 
and not to the President of the Republic. 



TREATY OF VERSAILLES 607 

When interpellations addressed to the ministers or pe- 
titions sent to the Assembly relate to foreign affairs, the Pres- 
ident of the Republic shall have the right to be heard. 

When these interpellations or these petitions shall have rela- 
tion to the internal policy, the ministers shall reply only for 
the acts which concern them. Nevertheless, if by a special 
resolution, communicated to the Assembly before the opening 
of the discussion by the vice-president of the council of min- 
isters, the council should declare that the questions raised are 
bound up with the general policy of the Government and thus 
involve the responsibility of the President of the Republic, 
the President shall have the right to be heard in the forms 
determined by the first article. 

After having heard the vice-president of the council, the 
Assembly fixes the day for the discussion. 

5. The National Assembly shall not separate before having 
enacted : 

1st. Upon the organization and the method of transmission 
of the legislative and executive powers ; 

2d. Upon the creation and prerogatives of a second 
chamber, which is not to enter upon its functions until after 
the separation of the present Assembly; 

3d. Upon the electoral law. 

The government shall submit to the Assembly projects of 
law upon the above enumerated matters. 



125. Preliminary Treaty of Versailles. 

February 26, 1871. De Clercq. Traites, X, 430-435. Transla- 
tion, Herstlet, Map of Europe hy Treaty, 1912-1918. 

As the stipulations of this treaty were reproduced without any 
very considerable change in the definitive treaty of Frankfort, 
this document shows substantially the terms of peace at the end 
of the Franco-Prussian war. 

References. Fyffe, Modern Europe, III, 464-465 (Popular ed., 
1018-1014) ; Seignobos, Europe Since 1811,, 818 ; Hanotaux, Con- 
temporary France, I, 119-131; Sorel, Histoire Diplomatique de la 
Guerre Franco- Allemande, II, 231-251. 

Between the Chancellor of the Germanic Empire, Count 
Otto de Bismarck-Schonhausen, . . . representing the 



6o8 DECLARATIONS^ OF THE COMMUNE 

Germanic Empire, on the one part; and on the other part, the 
Chief of the Executive Power of the French Republic, Mon- 
sieur Thiers, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Monsieur 
Jules Favre, representing France; . . . the following 
has been agreed upon to serve as a preliminary Basis to 
the Definitive Peace to be concluded hereafter. 

1. . . . [Contains the cession of territory made by 
France to Germany. This cession, as slightly modified by the 
definitive treaty of Frankfort, is shown upon maps in "Herst- 
let, Map of Europe by Treaty, 1962-1963, and Putzger, His- 
torischer Schul- Atlas, 29.] ' 

2. France shall pay to His Majesty the Emperor of Ger- 
many the sum of 5,000,000,000 Francs (five milHards). 

The pa3^ment of at least 1,000,000,000 (one milliard) Francs 
shall be effected within the year 1871, and the whole of the 
remainder of the Debt in the space of 3 years, dating from 
the ratification of the present. 

3. . . . [Provides in detail for the gradual evacuation 
of French territory as the payments upon the indemnity are 
made.] 

4. The German Troops shall abstain from levying con- 
tributions either in money or in kind in the occupied Depart- 
ments. On the other hand, the maintenance of the German 
Troops remaining in France shall be at the expense of the 
French Government in the manner decided upon by an 
Agreement with the German Military Administration. 



126. Declaration of the Paris Commune. 

April 19, 1871. Revue de France, Supplement. Actes tlu Goiiv- 
ernment Rcvolutionnaire de Paris, XXXIX-XL. 

The ideas of the Paris Communists may be divided into two 
classes : (1) negative, a common liatred of monarchy and the 
bourgeois republic, one of which they expected the National As- 
semblj'- to establish: (2) positive, a great variety of political and 
social theories, represented by different groups of Communists. 
This document, which was the chief political act of the Commune, 
throws light upon both sets of ideas. For the negative class, the 
intensity of feeling which the document shows should be noted. 
The positive ideas should be compared with (1) those of the ex- 
treme revolutionary parties of earlier crises, (2) those of the dif- 



DECLARATION OF THE COMMUNE goQ 

ferent groups represented among the Communists, (3) the require- 
ments of the existing situation in France. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 190-194 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 345-349 ; Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction 
in Modern France, Ch. viii ; Hanotaux, Contemporary France, I, 
166-169 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generate, XII, 2-7. 

DECLARATION TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

In the painful and terrible conflict which once again im- 
poses upon Paris the horrors of siege and bombardment, 
which causes French blood to flow, which causes our brothers, 
our wives, and our children to perish, sinking before shells 
and grape shot, it is necessary that public opinion should not 
be divided and that the national conscience should not be 
troubled. 

It is necessary that Paris and the whole country should 
know what is the nature, the reason, and the aim of the Rev- 
olution which is accomplished. It is necessary, in fine, that 
the responsibility for the sorrows, the sufferings and the mis- 
fortunes of which we are the victims should return upon those 
who, after having betrayed France and delivered Paris to 
the foreigner, are seeking with a blind and cruel obstinacy 
the ruin of the capital, in order to conceal in the disaster to 
the Republic and to Liberty the double testimony to their 
treason and their crime. 

It is the duty of the Commune to ascertain and assert the 
aspirations and the views of the population of Paris, to state 
precisely the character of the movement of March i8, mis- 
understood, unknown and calumniated by the politicians who 
sit at Versailles. 

Once again Paris labors and suft'ers for all France, for 
which by her conflicts and sacrifices she prepares intellectual, 
moral, administrative and economic regeneration, glory and 
prosperity. 

What does she ask for? 

The recognition and consolidation of the Republic, the 
only form of government compatible with the rights of the 
people and the regular and free development of society; 

The absolute autonomy of the Commune extended to all 
the localities in France, and insuring to each the integrity of 

20 



6lo DECLARATION OF THE COMMUNE 

its rights and to every Frenchman the full exercise of his 
faculties and aptitudes, as man, citizen and worker ; 

The autonomy of the Commune shall have for its limits 
only the equal right of autonomy for all the other com- 
munes adhering to the contract, the association of which must 
insure French unity. 

The rights inherent in the Commune are : 

The voting of the communal budget, receipts and expendi- 
tures ; the determination and partition of taxation; the man- 
agement of the local services ; the organization of its magis- 
trature, the internal police and edtication ; the administration of 
the property belonging to the Commune; 

The choice by election or competition, with responsibility 
and the permanent right of control and of removal, of the 
communal magistrates and functionaries of all sorts"; 

The absolute guarantee of personal liberty, of liberty of 
conscience and liberty of labor ; 

The permanent participation of the citizens in communal 
affairs by the free expression of their ideas and the free de- 
fence of their interests ; guarantees to be given for these 
expressions by the Commune, which alone is to be charged 
with the supervision and assuring of the free and just ex- 
ercise of the right of meeting and of publicity; 

The organization of urban defence and of the National 
Guard, which elects its leaders and alone watches over the 
maintenance of order within the city. 

Paris wishes for nothing more in the way of local guaran- 
tees, on condition, well understood, of finding in the grand 
central administration, the delegation of the federated com- 
munes, the realization and the practice of the same principles. 

But, in favor of its autonomy and profiting from its liberty 
of action, Paris reserves to herself to effect for herself, as 
she may think proper, the administrative and economic re~ 
forms which her population demand ; to create suitable insti- 
tutions to develop and promote education, production, ex- 
change and credit; to universalize power and property, ac- 
cording to the necessities of the moment and the opinion of 
those interested and the data furnished by experience. 

Our enemies deceive themselves or deceive the country 



DECLARATION OF THE COMMUNE 6ll 

when they accuse Paris of wishing to impose its will or its 
supremacy upon the remainder of the nation and of design- 
ing a dictatorship which would be a veritable attack upon the 
independence and sovereignty of the other communes. 

They deceive themselves or deceive the country when 
they accuse Paris of seeking the destruction of French unity, 
established by the Revolution amid the acclamations of our 
fathers flocking to the Fete of the Federation from all points 
of old France. 

Unity such as has been imposed on us up to this day by 
the Empire, the Monarchy and Parliamentarism is only des- 
potic, unintelligent, arbitrary and onerous centralization. 

Political unity such as Paris wishes is the voluntary asso- 
ciation of all the local initiatives, the free and spontaneous co- 
operation of all the individual energies in view of a common 
purpose, the welfare, 'the liberty and the security of all. 

The Communal Revolution, begun by the popular initiative 
of March i8, inaugurates a new political era, experimental, 
positive, and scientific. 

It is the end of the old governmental and clerical world, 
of militarism, officialism, exploitation, stock jobbing, monop- 
olies, and privileges, to which the proletariate owes its servi- 
tude and the fatherland its misfortunes and its disasters. 

Let this beloved and splendid fatherland, imposed upon by 
falsehoods and calumnies, reassure itself then ! 

The struggle brought on between Paris and Versailles is 
one of those which cannot be terminated by illusory com- 
promises ; the issue of it cannot be doubtful. Victory, pur- 
sued with an indomitable energy by the National Guard, will 
remain with the idea and the right. 

We appeal, therefore, to France! 

Informed that Paris in arms possesses as miuch of calm- 
ness as of bravery; that it preserves order with as much en- 
ergy as enthusiasm ; that it sacrifices itself with as much rea- 
son as heroism ; and that it has armed itself only out of de- 
votion to the liberty and glory of all; let France cause this 
bloody conflict to cease ! 

It is for France to disarm Versailles by the solemn ex- 
pression of her irresistible will. 

Summoned to profit from our conquests, let her declare 



6i2 LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAWS 

herself identified with our efforts ; let her be our ally in this 
conflict which can end only by the triumph of the communal 
idea or the ruin of Paris ! 

As for ourselves, citizens of Paris, we have the mission of 
accomplishing the modern revolution, the greatest and the most 
fruitful of all those which have illuminated histor\'. 

It is our duty to struggle and to conquer ! 

Paris, April 19, 1871. The Commune of Paris. 



127. Laws for Reorganizing Local Government. 

These laws with No. 128 are the most important of the re- 
organization measures of the Thiers government. The system out- 
lined in them still exists with but little change. It should be 
compared with that of the Second Empire. 

Refeeenges. Seignobos, Europe Since 181.',, 195 ; Hanotaux, 
Contemporary France, 1, 235-240 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
Generale, XII, 9-10. 

A. Communal Law. April 14, 1871. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXXI, 71-79. 

2. Within the shortest possible space of time after the 
promulgation of the present law, the government shall con- 
voke the electors in all the communes in order to proceed to 
the entire renewal of the municipal councils. 

3. The elections shall take place by scniiin de liste for 
every commune. Nevertheless, the commune can be divided 
into sections, each of which shall elect a number of councillors 
proportionate to the figure of the population. . . . 

4. All French citizens fully 21 years of age, in en- 
joyment of their civil and political rights, not being in any 
position of incapacity as provided by the law, and having for 
at least a year past their actual domicile in the commune, are 
electors. 

All the electors 25 years of age meeting the conditions 
provided in the preceding paragraph . . . are eligible to 
the municipal council of a commune. 

Moreover, there can be chosen to the municipal council of 
a commune, without the condition of domicile, a fourth of 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAWS 613 

the members who shall compose it, on condition that the 
elected who are not domiciled pay in the said commune one 
of the four direct taxes. 

7. In all of the communes, whatever may be their popula- 
tion, the balloting shall continue only one day. It shall be 
opened and closed on a Sunday. The counting shall be done 
immediately. 

8. The municipal councils selected shall remain in office 
until the promulgation of the organic law upon the munic- 
ipalities. Nevertheless, the duration of their functions cannot 
exceed three years. . 

9. The municipal council shall elect the mayor and the as- 
sistants from among its own members by secret ballot and 
majority. If after two ballots no candidate has obtained the 
majority the procedure shall be by ballotage between the two 
candidates who have obtained the most votes. 

The mayors and the assistants thus elected shall be remov- 
able by decree. 

Dismissed mayors and assistants shall not be re-eligible 
for a year. The selection of the mayors and the assistants 
shall take place provisionally by decree of the Government in 
the cities of more than 20,000 souls and in the head-towns of 
the department and the district, whatever may be their pop- 
ulation. The mayors shall be taken from within the munic- 
ipal council. 

10-17. [Provide a special municipal system for Paris.] 

19. The functions of mayor, assistants and municipal coun- 
cillors are essentially gratuitous. 

B. Departmental Law. August 10, 1871. Duvergier, Lois, 
LXXI, 181-210. 

TITLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

1. There is in each department a general council. 

2. The general council elects from within its own body 
a departmental commission. 

3. The prefect is the representative of the executive au- 



6i4 LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAWS 

thority within the department. He is, in addition, charged with 
the preHminary investigation of matters which are of impor- 
tance to the department, as well as the carrying out of the 
decisions of the general council and of the departmental com- 
mission, in conformity with the provisions of the present law. 

TITLE II. OF THE FORMATION OF THE GENERAL COUNCILS. 

4. Each canton of the department elects one member of 
the general council. 

5. The election is made by universal suffrage, in each com- 
mune from the lists drawn up ft)r the municipal elections. 

6. All citizens enrolled upon a list of electors, or proving 
that they ought to be enrolled there before the day of the 
election, fully twenty-five years of age, who are domiciled 
v/ithin the department, and those who, without being domiciled 
there, are listed there upon the roll of one of the direct taxes 
on the ist of January of the year in w^hich the election takes 
place, or who prove that they ought to be enrolled there on 
that day or that they have inherited since the same date a 
real estate property within the department, are eligible to the 
general council. However, the general councillors not dom- 
iciled cannot exceed one-fourth the total number of which 
the council must be composed. 

14. No one is elected a member of the general council at 
the first ballot, unless he unites: ist, a majority of the votes 
cast ; 2d, a number of votes equal to a fourth of that of the 
enrolled electors. 

At the second ballot, the election takes place by plurality, 
whatever may be the number of voters. If several candidates 
obtain the same number of votes, the election is awarded to the 
eldest. 

21. The general councillors are selected for six years; they 
are renewed by half every three years and are re-eligible in- 
definitely. 

TITLE III. OF THE SESSIONS OF THE GENERAL COUNCILS. 

23. The general councils have each year two ordinary ses- 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAWS 615 

The session in which the budget and the accounts are 
considered commences with full right the first Monday which 
follows August 15 and can be postponed only by a law. 

The opening of the other session takes place upon the 
day fixed by the general council in the session of the preced- 
ing August. . 

The duration of the August session cannot exceed one 
month ; that of the other ordinary session cannot exceed fif- 
teen days. 

27. The prefect has entrance to the general council; he is 
heard when he demands it and is present at the deliberations, 
except when the auditing of his accounts is in question. 

28. The sittings of the general councils are public. ' Nev- 
ertheless, upon the request of five members, the president or 
the prefect, the general council, by rising and sitting, without 
debate, decides whether it will form itself into secret com- 
mittee. 

SS. Every act and every decision of a general council in 
relation to matters which are not legally included within its 
powers is null and void. The nullity is pronounced by a de- 
cree rendered in the form of public administrative regulations. 

35. During the sessions of the National Assembly, the dis- 
solution of a general council can be pronounced by the 
head of the executive power only under the express obliga- 
tion to render an account of it to the Assembly within the 
shortest space of time possible 

36. In the interim of the sessions of the National Assem- 
bly, the Head of the Executive Power can pronounce the dis- 
solution of a general council for causes peculiar to this coun- 
cil. 

TITLE IV. OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE GENERAL COUNCILS. 

37. The general council apportions each year, at its August 
session, the direct taxes, in conformity with the rules estab- 
lished by the laws. 



6i6 LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAWS 

40. The general council votes the additional centimes the 
collection of which is authorised by the laws. 

It can vote extraordinary centimes within the limit of the 
maximum annually fixed by the law of finances. 

It can likewise vote departmental loans, reimbursable within 
a period which cannot exceed fifteen years, out of the ordinary 
and extraordinary resources. 

42. The general council determines each year at its August, 
session, within the limits annualjy fixed by the law of finances, 
the maximum number of extraordinary centimes which the 
m.unicipal councils are authorised to vote, in order to appro- 
priate the proceeds of them for extraordinary expenses of com- 
munal utility. 

44. The general council effects the recognition, determines 
the width and prescribes the opening and repair of cross- 
roads which are highways and of common interest. . 

46. The general council decides finally upon the matters 
hereinafter designated, to w4t : 

[Here follow twenty-six distinct matters embracing the 
more important powers of local administration.] 

47. The resolutions in which the general councils make 
definitive decisions are carried into effect, unless within a pe- 
riod of twenty, days, dating from the close of the session, 
the prefect has demanded the setting aside of them for excess 
of power or for violation of a provision of a' law or a regu- 
lation of public administration. 

48. The general council deliberates over : 

[Here follow five important matters of local government] 

49. The resolutions taken by the general council upon the 
matters enumerated in the preceding article are carried into 
effect, unless within a period of three months, dating from the 
closing of the session, a decree with statement of reasons has 
suspended their execution. 

50. The general council gives its opinion upon: 
[Here follow three matters of local government.] 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAWS 617 

51. The general council can address directly to the minister 
concerned, through the medium of its president, the complaints 
v/hich it shall have to present in the special interest of the de- 
partment, as well as its opinion upon the condition and the 
needs of the different public services, in that which touches 
the department. 

All expressions of political opinions are .forbidden to it. 
Nevertheless, it can express opinions upon all economic and 
general administrative questions. 

TITLE V. OF THE BUDGET AND OF THE ACCOUNTS OF THE 
DEPARTMENT. 

57. The project for the budget of the department is pre- 
pared and presented by the prefect, who is required to commu- 
nicate it to the departmental commission, with the corrobora- 
tive documents, at least ten days before the opening of the 
August session. 

The budget, considered by the general council, is definitively 
determined by decree. 

It is divided into ordinary budget and extraordinary bud- 
get. 

TITLE VI. OF THE DEPARTMENTAL COMMISSION. 

69. The departmental commission is elected each year at 
the end of the August session. 

It is composed of at least four members and of seven at 
most, and it includes one member chosen, as nearly as pos- 
sible, from among the councillors elected or domiciled in each 
district. The members of the commission are re-eligible in- 
definitely. 

75. The members of the departmental commission do not 
receive any compensation. 

']6. The prefect or his representative is present at the sit- 
tings of the commission ; they are heard when they demand it. 

"jj. The departmental commission controls the matters 
which are remitted to it by the general council, within the 



5i8 THE ARMY LAW 

limits of the delegation that is made to it. It deliberates over 
all the questions that are referred to it by the general council, 
within the limits of the delegation that is made to it. It delib- 
erates over all the questions that are referred to it by the 
prefect, and it gives its opinion to the prefect upon all the 
questions which he submits to it or upon which it believes that 
it ought to call his attention in the interest of the department, 

79. At the opening of each ordinary session of the gen- 
eral council, the departmental commission makes a report to 
it upon the whole of its labor? and submits to it all the pro- 
posals that it believes useful. 

At the opening of the August session, it presents in a sum- 
mary report its observations upon the budget proposed by the 
prefect. These reports are printed and distributed, unless the 
commission decides otherv/ise in regard to them. 

Special or Temporary Provisions. 
94. The present law is not applicable to the department of 
the Seine. A special law shall be enacted in respect to it. 



128. Law for Reorganizing the Army. 

July 27, 1S72. Duvergier, Lois, LXXII, 332-362. 

The disasters of the Franco-Prussian war making necessary a 
complete reorganization of the French army, this law was passed 
after careful consideration, and with very slight alterations it is 
still in force. Two features of it call for particular notice, (1) 
the principle upon which military service is based, (2) the man- 
ner in which that principle is applied. 

References. Seignobos, Evrope Since ISt't, 195 ; Hanotaus, 
Contemporary France, I, 4G.5-468 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire 
GcneraJe, XII, 10. 



TITLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

I. Every Frenchman owes personal military service. 

3. Every Frenchman who is not declared unfit for all mil- 
itary service can be summoned, from the age of twenty years 
to that of forty years, to make up part of the active army and 



THE ARMY LAW 619 

of the reserves, according to the mode determined by the 
law. 

4. Substitution is suppressed. 

The exemptions from service, under the conditions specified 
by the law, are not granted as final discharges. 

5. The men present in person do not take part in any vot- 
ing. 

TITLE II. OF THE SUMMONSES. 

Section II. Of the exemptions. . 

16. Young men whose infirmities render them unfit f5r all 
active or auxiliary service in the army are exempt from mil- 
itary service. 

17. These are exempt from military service in time of 
peace : 

1st. The eldest of fatherless and motherless orphans; 

2d. The only son or the eldest of the sons, or in default of 
son or son-in-law, the only grandson or the eldest of the grand- 
sons of a woman actually a widow, or a woman whose hus- 
band has been legally pronounced absent, or of a father who 
is blind or has entered upon his seventieth year. 

In the cases provided for by the two preceding paragraphs, 
the younger brother shall enjoy the exemption if the elder 
brother is blind or afflicted with any other incurable infirmity 
which renders him impotent. 

3d. The elder of two brothers summoned to make up part 
of the same drawing, if the younger is pronounced fit for the 
service. 

4th. One whose brother shall be in the active army ; 

5th. One whose brother shall have died in active service 
or shall have been discharged or allowed to retire on account 
of wounds received in a required service or on account of in- 
firmities contracted in the army or navy. 

20. These are by conditional right exempt from military 
service : 

[Seven difi^erent classes are named. With the exception of 
a few artists, all are either teachers or students preparing 
themselves for places of public utility in state or church.] 



620 THE ARMY LAW 

22. Young men designated by the municipal councils of the 
commune where they are domiciled as the indispensable sup- 
porters of families can be exempted by provisional title, if 
they discharge these duties efficiently. . 

These exemptions can be granted up to the extent of four 
per cent per department of the number of young men pro- 
nounced fit for the service. . . 

TITLE III. OF THE MILITARY SERVICE. 

36. Every Frenchman who is not declared unfit for all 
military service makes up part : 

Of the active army for five years ; 

Of the reserve of the active army for four years ; 

Of the territorial army for five years ; 

Of the reserve of the territorial army for six years. 

1st. The active army, independently of the men who are 
not recruited by the summons, is composed of all the young 
men declared fit for one of the services of the army and in- 
cluded in the last five classes summoned ; 

2d. The reserve of the active army is composed of all the 
men likewise declared fit for one of the services of the army 
and included in the four classes summoned immediately before 
those which form the active army; 

3d. The territorial army is composed of all the men who 
have completed the time of service prescribed for the active 
army and the reserve ; 

4th. The reserve of the territorial army is composed of the 
men who have completed the time of service for that army. 

40. After a year of service no more of the young men in 
the conditions set forth in the preceding article [i.e., all who 
are taken into the active army] are kept with the colors than 
the number of men fixed each year by the minister of war. 

41. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding article, 
the soldier included in the category of those not bound to 
remain with the colors, but who, after the year of service men- 
tioned in the said article, does not know how to read and write 
and does not meet the examinations prescribed by the minister 
of war, can be kept in the ranks for a second year. 



THE ARMY LAW 62I 

The soldier, placed in the same category, who, by instruction 
acquired prior to his entrance into the service and by that re- 
ceived with the colors, fulfils all the conditions required after 
six months, at dates fixed by the minister of war and before the 
expiration of the year can be sent to his home upon the unat- 
tached list, in accordance with the following article. 

42. The young men who, after the time of service pre- 
scribed by articles 40 and 41, are not kept with the colors re- 
main in their homes on the unattached list of the active 
army and at the disposal of the minister of war. They are 
by a regulation of the minister of war subject to reviews and 
drills. 

TITLE v. OF ENLISTMENTS, RE-ENLISTMENTS AND CONDITIONAL 
ENLISTMENTS. 

Section III. Of conditional enlistments for one year. 

53. The young men who have obtained the diplomas of 
bachelors of letters, bachelors of science, the diplomas of 
completion of studies or certificates of capacity established by 
articles 4 and 6 of the law of June 21, 1865 ; those who make 
up part of the central school of arts and manufactures, the na- 
tional schools of arts and crafts, the national schools of fine 
arts, the Conservatory of Music; the pupils of the national 
veterinary schools and the national schools of agriculture ; the 
day-scholars of the school of mines, the school of bridges and 
roads, the school of naval engineering and the pupils of the 
Saint Stephen school of miners, before the drawing of the 
lot, when they present the certificates of studies designated 
by a regulation inserted in the Bulletin of the Laws, are 
allowed to contract conditional enlistments in the army for 
one year, according to the mode prescribed by the said reg- 
ulation. 

54. Independently of the young men indicated in the jre- 
ceding article, those who meet one of the examinations re- 
quired by the different programs prepared by the minister of 
war and approved by decrees rendered in the form of public 
administrative regulations are allowed before the drawing 
of the lot to contract a similar engagement. 



622 OVERTHROW OF THIERS 

55. The volunteer enlisted for one year is clothed, 
mounted, equipped and supported at his own expense. 

However, the minister of war can exempt from all or 
part of the obligations prescribed in the preceding paragraph 
the young men who have given in their examination proofs of 
capacity and who prove in the forms prescribed by the reg- 
ulation that it is impossible for them to meet the expenses 
resulting from these obligations. 



129. Documents upon the Overthrow of Thiers. 

During the latter part of 1872 Thiers alienated many members 
of the National Assembly who had at first supported him. All the 
monarchists were offended by his announcement that in his opin- 
ion the time had come when the question of the definitive form of 
government should be settled and that the Republic was the form 
which ought to be adopted. Some conservative republicans were 
offended at his refusal to use his presidential authority for the 
repression of the radical republican agitation going on in the 
country. These documents show how the two groups by combining 
forces brought about the overthrow of Thiers. They also show 
the precise issues raised and something of the attitudes to- 
wards them. Document A was presented by the monarchists. 
Document B is Thiers' reply to document A. The scheme of gov- 
ernment which is brought forward should be comjoared with the 
later Constitutional Laws (see Xo. 133). Document C is the 
proposition upon which the voting occurred. It was adopted, 860 
to 34.5. Document D was read in the National Assembly to ex- 
plain the votes cast by the fifteen conservative republicans who 
signed it. Document E was issued by the radical republicans after 
the resignation of Thiers. Gambetta was its author. 

Refekences. Seignobos, Europe Since ISlii, 196-197 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 351-352 ; Hanotaus, Contemporary France, I, 
G22-652 : Simon, The Government of Thiers, II, 424-465 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XII, 10-13. 



A. The De Broglie Interpellation. May 19, 1873. Journal 
OfUciel, May 20, 1873 (Vol. 1873, 3204). 

The undersigned, convinced that the gravity of the situation 
requires at the head of affairs a cabinet whose firmness re- 
assures the country, ask to interpellate the ministry upon 
the late alterations which have just been effected in their body 
and upon the necessity of causing to prevail in the Government 
a resolutel}^ conservative policy. 



OVERTHROW OF THIERS 623 

They propose to fix upon Friday as the day ^ for the dis- 
cussion of this interpellation. 

B. The Government Proposals. May 19, 1873. Journal 
Omcicl, May 20, 1873 (Vol. 1S73, 3208-3209). 

Project of Law. 

1. The Government of the Republic is composed of a 
Senate, a Chamber of Representatives, and a President of 
the Republic, head of the executive power. 

2. The Senate is formed out of 265 members, French cit- 
izens at least thirty-five years of age and enjoying all their 
civil, political and family rights. 

The Chamber of Representatives is formed out of 537 
members, French citizens, at least twenty-five years of age 
and enjoying all their civil, political and family rights. 

The President of the Republic must be at least forty years 
of age and must enjoy all his civil, political and family rights. 

3. The Senate is selected for ten years and is renewed 
by a fifth every two years. 

The Chamber of Representatives is selected for five years, 
and is renewed as a body after the fifth year. 

The President of the Republic is selected for five years ; 
he can be re-elected. 

4. Each of the eighty-six departments of France selects 
three senators ; the territory of Belfort, the departments of 
Algeria, the islands of Reunion, Martinique and Guadeloupe 
each elect one. 

The election is made by the direct vote of the electors of 
the department, territory or colony, and by scrutin de liste 
for the departments of France. 

5. Only the following can be elected to the position of 
senator : 

1st. The members of the Chamber of Representatives; 

2d. The former members of the Legislative Assemblies ; 

3d. The ministers and former ministers ; 

4th. The members of the Council of State, of the court 
of c-assation and of the court of accounts ; 

5th. The presidents and former presidents of the general 
councils ; 

6th. The members of the Institute ; 



624 OVERTHROW OF THIERS 

7th. The appointed members of the superior council of 
commerce, agriculture and industry; 

8th. The cardinals, archbishops and bishops ; 

9th. The presidents of the two consistories of the con- 
fession of Augsburg which count the greatest number of 
electors and of the twelve consistories of the reformed relig- 
ion which count the greatest number of electors ; 

loth. The president and the grand rabbi of the central 
consistory of the Israelites of France; 

nth. The marshals and generals of division and the ad- 
mirals and vice-admirals in active service or upon the reserve 
list, the governors of Algeria and of the three great colonies 
who have exercised these functions for five years ; 

I2th. The prefects in active service ; 

13th. The mayors of cities of over 100,000 souls ; 

14th. The functionaries who for two years have filled the 
positions of directors in the central administrations of the 
ministries ; 

15th. The retired magistrates who have belonged to the 
court of cassation or to the court of appeals, or who have 
filled the position of president of a civil tribunal. 

6. The eligibles designated in paragraphs i, 4 and 12 of 
the preceding article shall declare within the fifteen days 
which shall follow the elections whether they intend to accept 
the position of senator. Their silence shall be equivalent to 
a refusal : their acceptance shall entail ipso facto their resig- 
nation from the posts which they occupy. 

7. Each of the 362 districts of France, including therein 
the territory of Belfort, selects one representative. Never- 
theless, the district whose population exceeds 100,000 inhab- 
itants shall elect as many representatives as it shall have 
times 100,000 inhabitants, every supplementary fraction count- 
ing as ioo,o®o inhabitants. 

The apportionment cannot be altered except in virtue of 
the quinquennial census of the population and througli a law. 

Two representatives are assigned to each of the depart- 
ments of Algeria and one to each of the six colonies of 
Reunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Senegal, Guiana and French 
India. 

8. The election of the representatives is made by the 



OVERTHROW OF THIERS 



625 



direct vote of all the electors of the district. The district 
which shall have several representatives to select shall be 
divided into as many sections as it shall have representatives. 
The sections shall be formed by agglomerations of cantons. 
They cannot be established or modified except by a law. 

9. The President of the Republic is selected by a congress 
composed of: ist, the members of the Senate; 2d, the members 
of the Chamber of Representatives ; 3d, a delegation of three 
members designated by each of the general councils of 
France and of Algeria in their annual session in the month 
of August. 

This congress shall be presided over by the president of 
the Senate. ;: 

10. When there shall be occasion to select the President 
of the Republic, the president of the Senate, within eight 
days, shall convoke the senators, the representatives and the 
designated councillors-general. 

The interval until the meeting cannot exceed fifteen days. 

The President of the Republic shall be selected by majority 
of the votes. 

The president of the Senate shall give notice of the selec- 
tion to the President of the Republic elect and to the pres- 
ident of the Chamber of Representatives. 

ATTRIBUTES OF THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES. 

11. The initiative for laws belongs to the two Chambers 
and to the President of the Republic. 

The two Chambers share equally in the making of the laws. 
Nevertheless, tax-laws are submitted first to the Chamber of 
Representatives. 

The Senate can be constituted into a court of justice in 
order to try prosecutions for responsibility against the Pres- 
ident and the ministers and the generals-in-chief of the army 
and navy. 

12. Each of the Chambers is the judge of the eligibility 
of its members and of the regularity of their election ; it 
alone can receive their resignations. 

13. The senators and the representatives shall not be 
questioned, accused or tried at any time for the opinions 
which they shall have expressed in the Chamber to which 
they belong. 



526 OVERTHROW OF THIERS 

They cannot be arrested for criminal matters, saving the 
case of -flagrante delicto, nor prosecuted until after the Cham- 
ber to which they belong has authorised the prosecution. 

14. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
when they have been voted by the two Chambers. He looks 
after and assures the execution of them. 

He negotiates and ratifies treaties. No treaty is definitive 
until after it has been approved by the two Chambers. 

He has the right to pardon; amnesties can be granted only 
through a law. 

He disposes of the armed force, without authority to com- 
mand it in person. 

He presides at the national solemnities ; the envoys and 
ambassadors of foreign powers are accredited to him. . 

The President of the Republic and the ministers, taken 
either individually or collectively, are responsible for the acts 
of the Government. 

15. When the President of the Republic shall be of the 
opinion that the interest of the country requires the renewal 
of the Chamber of Representatives before the normal ex- 
piration of its powers, he shall ask of the Senate the author- 
isation to dissolve it. This authorisation cannot be given ex- 
cept in secret committee and by majority of votes. It must 
be given within a space of eight days. 

The electoral colleges must be convoked within the three 
days which shall follow the notification made to the President 
of the Republic of the affirmative vote of the Senate. 
Temporary Provisions. 

16. When the National Assembly shall have determined 
by a vote the date at which it v/ill separate, the President of 
the Republic shall convoke the electoral colleges for the 
election of the representatives and ultimately for the election 
of the senators in such a manner that the two Chambers can 
constitute themselves upon the same day with the dissolution. 

The powers of the President of the Republic shall con- 
tinue until the notification of the congress which shall have 
elected the new President. 

The President of the Republic, 
A. Thiers. 



THE WHITE FLAG LETTER 627 

C. The Ernoul Order of the Day. May 24, 1873. Journal 
Officiel, May 25, 1873 (Vol. 1873, 3316). 

The National Assembly, 

Considering that the form of the Government is not in 
discussion; that the Assembly is in possession of the con- 
stitutional laws presented in virtue of one of its decisions, 
and that it ought to examine them ; but that, from to-day, it 
is important to reassure the country by causing to prevail in 
the Government a resolutely conservative policy, regrets that 
the recent ministerial alterations have not given to the con- 
servative interests the satisfaction which they had the right 
to expect, and passes to the order of the day. 

D. The Target Declaration. May 24, 1873. Journal 
Omciel, May 25, 1873 (Vol. 1873, 3315)- 

In the name of my colleagues, whose names follow, I have 
the honor to declare, in order to define precisely the idea and 
bearing of our votes, that, in associating ourselves together 
upon the order of the day, we all declare ourselves resolved 
to accept the republican solution such as results from the 
totality of the constitutional laws presented by the Government, 
and to put an end to the provisional government which com- 
promises the material interests of the country. We intend, in 
adopting this order of the day [i. e. Ernoul's], to express the 
idea that the Government of the President of the Republic 
henceforth ought to cause to prevail by its acts a clear and res- 
olutely conservative policy. 

E. Manifesto of the Extreme Left. May 24, 1873. The 
Times (London), May 25, 1873. 

The members of the Extreme Left, while recognizing the 
gravity of the present state of affairs, are convinced that they 
have the country at their back, and are unanimously of opinion 
that with coolness and vigilance they will be able to avert all 
danger. They declare that there exist in the Assembly the 
necessary elements for the formation of a majority capable of 
withstanding the Government in any reactionary attempts. 

130. The White Flag Letter. 

October 27, 1873. Tranelation, The Times (London), October 
31, 187.*:. 

This document throws light upon the most serious attempt 



628 THE WHITE FLAG LETTER 

after 1S70 to re-establish monarchy in France. A fusion of the 
I^egitimist and Orleanist forces having been arranged by mutual 
agreement, the election of the Count of Chambord seemed almost 
a certainty. To get favorable action from the National Assembly, 
howerer, it was necessary that there should be agreement as to a 
constitution and a flag. At a time when the fusionists in the 
National Assembly believed that these matters had been satis- 
factorily arranged, including the adoption of the tri-color, the 
Count of Chambord astonished and disconcerted his supporters Dy 
publishing this letter. It made impossible his election, and there- 
by prevented the re-establishment of monarchy. If carefully stud- 
ied the document will reveal, back of its vague and figurative lan- 
guage, the reasons why the Count of Chambord could not accept 
the kind of position which his election by the National Assembly 
would have entailed. ' 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since ISU, 199-200 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 353 ; Coubertin, Evolution of France under 
the Third Repuhlic, 37-41 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Gener- 
ale, XII, 13-14. 

Salzburg, Oct. 27. 
Sir, — I have preserved so pleasant a recollection of your 
visit to Salzburg, I have conceived so great an esteem for 
your noble character, that I do not hesitate to address myself 
to you as frankly as you came to me. For many long hours 
you spoke with me of the destinies of our w^ell-beloved country, 
and I know that on your return you uttered to your colleagues 
words which will earn you my eternal gratitude. I thank you 
for having so well understood the anguish of my heart, and 
for not having concealed the firmness of my decisions. I 
was not affected when public opinion, carried away by a 
current which I deplore, alleged that I at last consented 
to become the Legitimist King of a Revolution. I possessed 
as my security the testimony of a man of feeling; I resolved 
to remain silent so long as I was not compelled to make an 
appeal to your honesty; but as, notwithstanding your efforts, 
misapprehensions accumulate which tend to obscure my pol- 
icy, though it is as clear as the day, I owe the whole truth 
to that country which, however it may misunderstand me, 
yet believes me sincere, knowing that I have never deceived 
it and never will. I am asked now to sacrifice my honour. 
What can I reply, buf that I retract nothing and curtail 
nothing of my previous declarations? The claims of yester- 
day give me the measure of what would be exacted of me 
on the morrow, and I cannot consent to inaugurate a repar- 



THE WHITE FLAG LETTER 629 

ative and strong reign by an act of weakness. People some- 
times contrast the firmness of Henri V with the ability of 
Henri IV. "The passionate love which I bear my subjects," 
said Henri IV, "makes everything honourable for me that 
is possible." On that point I will concede him nothing; but I 
should like to know what lesson would have been taught any 
one imprudent and venturesome enough to persuade him to 
renounce the standard of Arques and Ivry? You belong, sir, 
to the province where he came into existence, and you will 
be, with me, of opinion that he would speedily have disarmed 
his interlocutor by saying with his Beam vigour, "My friend, 
take my White Flag; it will always lead you ito the path of 
honour and victory." I have been accused of not holding 
the valour of our soldiers in sufficiently high esteem, and 
this at a moment when I do but aspire to confide to th-em all 
that I hold most dear. Is it, then, forgotten that honour is 
the common patrimony of the House of Bourbon and the 
French army, and that on that point a misunderstanding is 
impossible between them? No, I do not ignore any of my 
country's glories, and God alone, in >the depth of my exile, has 
seen the tears of gratitude I have shed each time that the 
children of France, whether in good or evil fortune, have 
shown themselves worthy of her. But we hav^ a gTeat 
work to accomplish together. I am ready — quite ready — to 
undertake it when so desired — to-morrow, this evening, this 
moment. This is why I wish to remain entirely as I am. 
Enfeebled to-day, I should be powerless to-morrow. The* 
issue at stake is none other than that of reconstructing society, 
deeply disturbed, upon its natural bases ; of energetically en- 
suring the reign of law and order, of restoring prosperity at 
home, concliiding lasting alliances abroad, and, especially, of 
not fearing to employ force in the service of order and justice. 
They speak of conditions ! were any required of me by that 
young Prince whose honest embrace I experienced with so 
much happiness, and who, listening only to the dictates of his 
patriotism, came spontaneously to me, bringing me in the 
name of all his family assurances of peace, devotedness, and 
reconciliation ? They wish for guarantees ! were any asked 
of that Bayard of modern times on that memorable night 
when they imposed upon his modesty the glorious mission of 



630 LAW OP THE SEPTENNATE 

i.ranquilizing his country by one of those words of an honest 
man which reassure the good and make the wicked tremble? 
I, it is true, have not borne, as he did, the sword of France 
on twenty battlefields; but for forty-three years I have pre- 
served intact the sacred deposit of our traditions and our 
liberties. I have, therefore, a right to reckon upon equal con- 
fidence, and I ought to inspire the same sense of security. 
My personality is nothing; my principle is everything. France 
will see the end of her trials when she is willing to under- 
stand 'this. I am a necessary pilot, the only one capable of 
guiding the ship to port, because I have for that a mission 
of authority. You, sir, are able to do much to remove mis- 
understandings and prevent weaknesses in the hour of strug- 
gle. Your consqling words on leaving Salzburg are ever 
present to my mind. France cannot perish, for Christ still 
loves His Franks; and when God has resolved to save a 
people, He takes care that the sceptre of justice is only put 
into hands strong enough to hold it. 



131. Law of the Septennate. 

November 20, 1873. Duvergier, Lois, LXXIII, 363-368. 

This law was enacted after the failure of the attempt to re- 
store monarchy. (See No. 130.) Opposed by the two extremes, 
it was passed by a combination of centre groups, each group vot- 
ing for it out of motives peculiar to itself. The document should 
be studied in connection with No. 124, as it became with what was 
carried over from them a sort of provisional constitution. 

Eefp.rences. Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 200; Andrews, 
]\[o(lfrn Europe, II, 353-354 ; Bodley, France, I, 281 ; Lavisse and 
Rambaud, JTistoire Generale, XII, 14-15. 

1. The executive power is entrusted for seven years to 
Marshal de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, dating from the 
promulgation of the present law ; this power shall continue 
to be exercised with the title of President of the Republic 
and under the existing conditions until the modifications which 
may be effected therein by the constitutional laws. 

2. Within the three days which shall follow the pro- 
mulgation of the present law, a commission of thirty members 
shall be selected, in public and by scrutin de liste, for the 
examination of constitutional laws. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC 63I 

132. Documents upon the Establishment of the Republic. 

These documents, with those alluded to in them, show the man- 
ner in which the Third Republic became definitively established. 
The first two show the status of the matter during 1874. Docu- 
ment A represents the program of those who desired that the Re- 
public should be proclaimed at once ; document B, that of their 
opponents. The difference between the two should be carefully 
noted and each should be compared with what was finally adopted 
(No. 133). The National Assembly was unable to come to a 
decision upon the issue presented by the two documents. It re- 
jected document A after h^-ving once given it an indirect sanction, 
but it did not adopt the positive program of document B. When 
the Assembly met again in January, 1875, the republicans finally 
succeeded in accomplishing indirectly what they had failed to do 
directly. This was done by amending document B. Several 
amendments only slightly different in meaning were offered and 
beaten. Document C is a type of these amendments. Document 
D, the amendment finally secured, was passed by a vote of 353 to 
352. The difference in meaning between document C and D should 
be carefully noted, and likewise the character of the change 
effected in document B through the adoption of the amendment. 

References. Seignobos, Europe Since ISlif, 200-201 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, II, 354-356 ; C. F. A. Currier, Annals of the 
American Acadewy of Political and Social Science, Supplement, 
March, 1893, 20-32 ; Lavisse and Rambaud, Ilistoire Generale, 
XII, 16-18. 

A. The Casimir-Perier Proposal. June 15, 1874. Journal 
OMciel, June 16, 1874 (Vol. 1874, 4050). 

The National Assembly, wishing to put an end to the 
anxieties of the country, adopts the following resolution : 

The commission upon the constitutional laws shall take as 
the basis of its labors upon the organization and transmission 
of the public powers : 

1. Article i of the project of law deposited May 19, 1873, 
thus expressed : "The Government of the French Republic 
is composed of two Chambers and of a President, head of the 
executive power;" 

2. The law of November 20, 1873, by which the Pres- 
idency of the Republic has been entrusted to M. Marechal 
de MacMahon until November 20, 1880; 

3. The consecration of the right of partial or total re- 
vision of the Constitution, in the forms and at the dates which 
the constitutional law shall determine. 

B. The Ventavon Proposal. July 15, 1874. Journal Officiel, 
July 16, 1874 (Vol. 1874, 4955). 



632 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC 



The commission has the honor to propose to you : in the 
first place, to reject the proposal of M. Casimir-Perier upon 
whicii urgency has been declared ; in the second place, to 
vote in the form of the rule the following articles of the 
constitutional law : 

1. Marshal de MacMahon, President of the Republic, con- 
tinues to exercise with that title the executive authority with 
which he is invested by the law of November 20, 1873. 

2. He is responsible only in the case of high treason. 

The ministers are collectively responsible before the Cham- 
bers for the general policy of the 'Government, and individually 
for their personal acts. 

3. The legislative power is exercised by two Assemblies : 
the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. 

The Chamber of Deputies is selected by universal suffrage, 
under the conditions determined by the electoral law. 

The Senate is composed of members elected or appointed 
in the proportions and under the conditions which shall be reg- 
ulated by a special law. 

4. The Marshal President of the Republic is invested with 
the right to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. In that case, 
a new election shall be proceeded with within the space of six 
months. 

5. At the expiration of the term fixed by 1:he law of 
November 20, 1873, as in case of vacancy of the presidential 
authority, the council of ministers immediately convokes the 
two Assemblies which, met in congress, decide upon the 
measures to be taken. 

During the continuance of the powers entrusted to Marshal 
de MacMahon, revision of the constitutional laws can be made 
only upon his proposal. 

C. The Proposed Laboulaye Amendment. January 28, 
1875. Journal OfUciel, January 29, 1875 (Vol. 1875, 768-769). 

The Government of the Republic is composed of two 
Chambers and of a President. 

D. The Wallon Amendment. January 29-30, 1875. Jo'urnal 
Officiel, January 30, 1875 (Vol. 1875, 798). 

The President of the Republic is elected by the plurality of 
the votes by the Senate and by the Chamber of Deputies met 
in National Assembly. 

He is selected for seven years. He is re-eligible. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS ^^^ 

133. The Constitutional Laws and Amendments. 

Translations, C. F. A. Currier, Supplement to the Annals of -the 
American Academy of Political and Social science, March, 1893, 42- 
50. 

These documents taken together constitute the present written 
constitution of France. Their real character may be best brought 
out by a series of comparisons. (1) They should be compared 
with the constitutions which created some of the preceding gov- 
ernments of France, particularly those of 1830 (No. 105) and 
1848 (No. 110) for the preceding parliamentary regime and the 
preceding republic. (2) A comparison with a typical written con- 
stitution such as the American federal constitution will empha- 
size one characteristic feature. (3) By comparing the scheme 
of government with the actual government of England other im- 
portant characteristics will be revealed. 

Refeeences. Seignobos, Europe Since 18U, 202-204 ; Lowell, 
Governments and Parties in Continental Europe, I, 11-14 ; Bodley, 
France, I, 263-270 ; Coubertin, Evolution of France under the 
Third Repuhlic, 53-61 ; Lavisse and Ramb^aud, Histoire Generale, 
XII, 19-21. 

A. Law upon the Organization of the Senate. February 
24, 1875. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 54-62. 

1. The Senate consists of three hundred members : 
Two hundred and twenty-five elected by the departments 

and colonies, and seventy-five elected by the National Assem- 
bly. 

2. The departments of the Seine and of the Nord elect 
each five senators. 

The following departments elect four senators each: 
Seine-Inferieure, Pas-de-Calais, Gironde, Rhone, Finistere, 
C6tes-du-Nord. 

The following departments elect three senators each : 
Loire-Inferieure, Saone-et-Loire, Ille-et-Vilaine, Seine-et-Oise, 
Isere, Puy-de-D6me, Somme, Bouches-du-Rhone, Aisne, Loire, 
Manche, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Dordogne, Haute-Garonne, 
Charente-Inferieure, Calvados, Sarthe, Herault, Basses-Pyr- 
enees, Gard, Aveyron, Vendee, Orne, Oise, Vosges, Allien 

All the other departments elect two senators each. 

The following elect one senator each : the territory of Bel- 
fort, the three departments of Algeria, the four colonies : Mar- 
tinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion and the French Indies. 

3. No one can be senator unless he is a French citizen, forty 
years of age at least, and enjoying civil and political rights. 



634 ^^^ CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS 

4. The senators of the departments and colonies are elected 
by an absolute majority and by scrittm de liste, by a college 
meeting at the capital of the department or colony and com- 
posed : 

1st, of the deputies ; 

2d, of the general councillors ; 

3d, of the arrondissement councillors ; 

4th, of delegates elected, one by each municipal council, 
from among the voters of the commune. 

In the French Indies the members of the colonial council 
or of the local councils are substituted for the general coun- 
cillors, arrondissement councillors and delegates from the 
municipal councils. 

They vote at tne capital of each district. 

5. The senators chosen by the Assembly are elected by 
scrutin de liste and by an absolute majority of votes. 

6. The senators of the departments and colonies are elected 
for nine years and renewable by thirds every three years. 

At the beginning of the first session the departments shall 
be divided into three series containing an equal number of 
senators each. It shall be determined by lot which series shall 
be renewed at the expiration of the first and second triennial 
periods. 

7. The senators elected by the Assembly are irremovable. 
Vacancies by death, by resignation, or for any other reason, 

shall, within the space of two months, be filled by the Senate 
itself. 

8. The Senate has, concurrently with the Chamber of Dep- 
uties, the initiative and passing of laws. Money bills, how- 
ever, must first be introduced in, and passed by the Chamber 
of Deputies. 

9. The Senate may be constituted a Court of Justice to 
judge either the President of the Republic or the Ministers, 
and to take cognizance of attacks made upon the safety of the 
State. 

10. Elections to the Senate shall take place one month 
before the time fixed by the National Assembly for its own 
dissolution. The Senate shall organize and enter upon its 
duties the same day that the National Assembly is dissolved. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS 635 

II. The present law shall be promulgated only after the 
passage of the law on the public powers. 

B. Law upon the Organization of the Public Powers. 
February 25, 1875. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 42-53- 

1. The legislative power ^is exercised by two assemblies : 
the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. 

The Chamber of Deputies is elected by universal suffrage, 
under the conditions determined by the electoral law. 

The composition, the method of election, and the powers of 
the Senate shall be regulated by a special law. 

2. The President of the Republic is chosen by an aibsolute 
majority of votes of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies 
united in National Assembly 

He is elected for seven years. He is re-eligible. 

3. The President of the Republic has the initiative of the 
laws, concurrently with the members of the two Chambers. 

He promulgates the laws when they have been voted by the 
two Chambers ; he looks after and secures their execution. 

He has the right of pardon ; amnesty can be granted by law 
only. 

He disposes of the armed force. 

He appointe to all civil and mxilitary positions. 

He presides over national festivals ; envoys and ambassadors 
of foreign powers are accredited to him. 

Every act of the President of the Republic must be coun- 
tersigned by a minister. 

4. As vacancies occur on and after the promulgation of the 
present law, the President of the Republic appoints, in the 
Council of Ministers, the Councillors of State in ordinary ser- 
vice. 

The Councillors of State thus chosen may be dismissed only 
by decree rendered in the Council of Ministers. 

The Councillors of State chosen by virtue of the law of 
May 24, 1872, cannot, before the expiration of their powers, 
be dismissed except in the manner determined by that law. 
After the dissolution of the National Assembly, revocation 
may be pronounced only by resolution of the Senate. 

5. The President of the Republic may, with the advice of 
the Senate, dissolve the Chamber of Deputies before the 
legal expiration of its term. 



536 THE CONSTITUTIONAl^ LAWS 

In that case the electoral colleges are summoned for new 
elections within the space of three months. 

6. The Ministers are jointly and severally (solidairement) 
responsible to the Chambers for the general policy of the gov- 
ernment, and individually for their personal acts. 

The President of the Repubhc is responsible in case of 
high treason only. 

7. In case of vacancy by death or for any other reason, 
the two Chambers assembled together proceed at once to the 
election of a new President. 

In the meantime the Council of Ministers is invested with 
the executive power. 

8. The Chambers shall have the right by separate resolu- 
tions, taken in each by an absolute majority of votes, either 
upon their own initiative or upon the request of the President 
of the Republic, to declare a revision of the Constitutional 
Laws necessary. 

After each of the two Chambers shall have come to this de- 
cision they shall meet together in National Assembly to pro- 
ceed with the revision. 

The acts effecting revision of the constitutional laws, in 
whole or in part, must be by an absolute majority of the mem- 
bers composing the National Assembly. 

During the continuance, however, of the powers conferred 
by the law of November 20, 1873, upon Marshal de MacMahon, 
this revision can take place only upon the initiative of the 
President of the Republic. 

9. The seat of the Executive Power and of the two Cham- 
ber3 is at Versailles. 

C. Law upon the Relation of the Public Powers. July 16, 
1875. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 250-255. 

I. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall assemble 
each year the second Tuesday of January, unless convened 
earHer by the President of the Republic. 

The two Chambers continue in session at least five months 
each year. The sessions of each begin and end at the same 
time. 

On the Sunday following the opening of the session, public 
prayers shall be addressed to God in the churches and tem.- 
ples, to invoke His aid in the labors of the Chambers. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS (^t^-j 

2. The President of the RepubHc pronounces the closure 
of the session. He may convene the Chambers in extra session. 
He must convene them if, during the recess, an absolute ma- 
jority of the members of each Chamber request it. 

The President may adjourn the Chambers. The adjourn- 
ment, however, must not exceed one month, nor take place 
more than twice in the same session. 

3. One month at least before the legal expiration of the 
powers of the President of the Republic, the Chambers must 
be called together in National Assembly and proceed to the 
election of a new president. 

In default of a summons, this meeting shall take place, as 
of right the fifteenth day before the expiration of those pow- 
ers. 

In case of the death or resignation of the President of 
the Republic, the tv^^o Chambers shall reassemble immediately, 
as of right. 

In case the Chamber of Deputies, in consequence of Article 
5 of the law of February 25, 1875, is dissolved at the time 
when the presidency of the Republic becomes vacant, the elec- 
toral colleges shall be convened at once, and the Senate shall 
reassemble as of right. 

4. Every meeting of either of the two Chambers which 
shall be held at a time other than the common session of 
both is illegal and void, except the case provided for in the 
preceding article, and that when the Senate meets as a court of 
justice; and in this last case, judicial duties alone shall be 
performed. 

5. The sittings of the Senate and of the Chamber of Depu- 
ties are public. 

Nevertheless each Chamber may meet in secret session, 
upon the request of a fixed number of its members, determined 
by the rules. 

It decides by absolute majority whether the sitting shall 
be resumed in public upon the same subject. 

6. The President of the Republic communicates with the 
Chambers by messages, which are read from the tribune by a 
Minister. 

The Ministers have entrance to both Chambers, and must 
be heard when they request it. They may be represented, for 



638 THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS 

the discussion of a specific bill, by commissioners designated by 
decree of the President of the Republic. 

7. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws 
within the month following the transmission to the Government 
of the law finally passed. He must promulgate, within three 
days, laws whose promulgation shall have been declared urgent 
by an express vote in each Chamber. 

Within the time fixed for promulgation the President of 
the Republic may, by message with reasons assigned, fequest 
of the two Chambers a new discussion, which cannot be re- 
fused. 

8. The President of the Republic negotiates and ratifies 
treaties. He communicates them to the Chambers as soon as 
the interests and safety of the State permit. 

Treaties of peace, and of commerce, treaties which involve 
the finances of the State, those relating to the persons and 
property of French citizens in foreign countries, shall be- 
come definitive only after having been voted by the two Cham- 
bers. 

No cession, no exchange, no annexation of territory shall 
take place except by virtue of a law. 

9. The President of the Republic cannot declare war 
except by the previous assent of the two Chambers. 

10. Each Chamber is the judge of the eligibility of its mem- 
bers, and of the legality of their election; it alone can receive 
their resignation. 

11. The bureau of each Chamber is elected each year 
for the entire session, and for every extra session which may 
be held before the ordinary session of the following year. 

When the two Chambers meet together as a National As- 
sembly, their bureau consists of the President, Vice-Presidents 
and Secretaries of the Senate. 

12. The President of the Republic may be impeached by 
the Chamber of Deputies only, and tried by the Senate only. 

The Ministers may be impeached by the Chamber of Dep- 
uties for offences committed in the performance of their duties. 
In this case they are tried by the Senate. 

The Senate may be constituted a Court of Justice, by a 
decree of the President of the Republic, issued in the Council 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS 639 

of Ministers, to try all persons accused of attempts upon the 
safety of the State. 

If procedure is begun by the ordinary courts, the decree 
convening the Senate may be issued any time before the grant- 
ing of a discharge. 

A law shall determine the method of procedure for the ac- 
cusation, trial and judgment. 

13. No member of either Chamber shall be prosecuted 
or held responsible on account oi any opinions expressed or 
votes cast by him in the performance of his duties. 

14. No member of either Chamber shall, during the session, 
be prosecuted or arrested for any offence or misdemeanor, 
except on the authority of the Chamber of which he is a mem- 
ber, unless he be caught in the ver}^ act. 

The detention or prosecution of a member of either Chamber 
is suspended for the session, and for its [the Chamber's] 
entire term, if it demands it. 

D. Amendment upon the Seat of Government. June 21, 
1879. Duvergier, Lois, LXXIX, 213-227. 

Article 9 of the constitutional lav/ of February 25, 1875, is 
repealed. 

E. The Amendments of 1884. August 14, 1884. Duver- 
gier, Lois, LXXXIV, 240-250. 

1. Paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the constitutional law of 
February 25, 1875, on the Organization of the Public Powers, 
is amended as follows : 

"In that case the electoral colleges meet for new elections 
within two months, and the Chambers within the ten days 
following the close of the elections." 

2. To Paragraph 3 of Article 8 of the same law of Febru- 
ary 25, 1875, is added the following: 

"The Republican form of the Government cannot be made 
the subject of a proposed revision. 

"Members of families that have reigned in France are in- 
eligible to the presidency of the Republic." 

3. Articles i to 7 of the constitutional law of February 24, 
1875, on the Organization of the Senate, shall no longer have 
a con«titutional character. 

4. Paragraph 3 of Article i of the constitutional law of 
July 16, 1875, on the Relation of the Public Powers, is repealed. 



640 'J^HE 16TH OF MAY CRISIS 

134. Documents upon the 16th of May Crisis. 

From these documents much may "be learned about the real 
nature of the famous 16th of May crisis. The acceptance of the 
resignation virtually asked for in document A and offered in doc- 
ument B led to the adoption by the Chamber of Deputies of doc- 
ument C. It was presented by Gambetta as that agreed upon by 
all the groups of the republican majority and was passed 347 to 
149. In consequence, MacMahon first adjourned the Chamber of 
Deputies for a month and then, with the consent of the Senate, 
dissolved it. The remaining documents, except the last, are in- 
tended to give an idea of the vigorous and acrimonious electoral 

campaign which followed. In the manifestoes of MacMahon spec- 
ial attention should be given to the list of the achievements of 
his government, his explanation of the issues involved, and what 
is announced or implied as to the future. Documents D and F 
are both the work of Gambetta. Their analysis of the situation 
from the republican standpoint and their list of administrative 
measures for influencing the elections should be carefully noted. 
The elections were an overwhelming victory for the republicans. 
Document H shows how MacMahon accepted the result. 

Rbfeeences. Seignobos, Europe Since ISU, 203-207 ; Andrews, 
Modern Europe, 350-357 ; Coubertin, Evolution of France under 
the Third RcpvUic, 61-74 : Bodley, France, I, 286-291 ; Lavisse 
and Rambaud, Ilistoirc Generale, XII, 23-28. 

A. Letter of MacMahon to Simon. May 16, 1877. Journal 
Oiticiel, May 17, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 3689-3690). 

Mr. President of the Council, 

I have just read in the Journal OfUciel the report of the 
sitting of yesterday. 

I have seen with surprise that neither you nor Mr. Keeper 
of the Seals urged from the tribune all the weighty reasons 
which possibly might have prevented the abrogation of a law 
upon the press, voted less than two years ago upon the propos- 
al of M. Dufaure and the application of which you yourself 
very recently asked of the tribunals ; and moreover, in several 
meetings of the Council, and even in that of yesterday it had 
been decided that the President of the Council, as well as the 
Keeper of the Seals, should be charged with combating it. 

Already there was occasion for astonishment that the 
Chamber of Deputies, in its late sittings, should have discussed 
an entire municipal law, and even adopted some provisions, 
of which in the council of ministers you yourself have thor- 
oughly recognized the danger, such as the publicity of the 
municipal councils, without the Minister of the Interior having 
taken part in the discussion. 



THE 16TH OF MAY CRISIS 641 

This attitude of the head of the cabinet raises the question 
whether he has kept in the Chamber the influence necessary 
to make his views prevail. 

An explanation in this matter is indispensable, for if I 
am not responsible as you are to the Parliament, I ihave 
a responsibility to France, with which, to-day more than ever, 
I must be preoccupied. 

Accept, Mr. President of the Council, assurance of my 
highest consideration. 

The President of the Republic, 

Marshal de MacMahon, 

B. Letter of Simon to MacMahon, May 16, 1877. Trans- 
lation, The Times (London), May 17, 1877, 

In view of the letter you have thought fit to write to me, 
I feel myself bound to hand you my resignation of the func- 
tions you were good enough to confide to me. I am obliged, 
however, at the same time to tender explanations on two 
points. You regret, M. le Marechal, that I was not present 
on Saturday in the Chamber, when the first reading of the 
Bill on Municipal Councils was discussed. I regretted it 
also ; I was detained at Paris by indisposition ; but the ques- 
tion of the publicity of the sittings was only to have been 
discussed on the second reading. I had come to an agreement 
on this point with M. Bardouy. M. Perras's amendment, which 
passed, took the Assembly unawares, and I had an appoint- 
ment with the Committee on Friday morning to try and make 
it reverse its decision before entering on the debate in the 
Chamber. All this is known to everybody. As to the Bill 
on the Press, M. le Marechal, yon will be good enough to 
remember that my objections related solely to the case of 
foreign Sovereigns. I had always explained myself in this 
sense, as you yourself must remember at yesterday morning's 
Council. I repeated my reservations before the Chamber. 
I abstained from elaborating them for reasons which every- 
body knew and approved. As to the rest of the Bill, I was in 
agreement with ihc Committee. You will understand, M. 
le President, the motive which leads me to enter into these 
details. I have to define my position in a distinct manner 
at the moment of my quitting the Council. I scarcely ven- 
21 



642 THE 16TH OF MAY CRISIS 

ture to add — though as a citizen, and no longer as a Minister 
— that I earnestly desire to be succeeded by a man belonging, 
like myself, to the Conservative Republican Party. For five 
months it has been my function to give my advice, and the 
last time I have the honour of writing to you I allow myself 
to express a wish which is solely inspired by my patriotism. 
Pray accept, M. le Marechal, the homage of my respect. 

C. Order of the Day. May 17, 1877. Journal OfUciel, May 
18, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 3744). 

The Chamber, 

Considering that it is important in the present crisis and 
in order to fulfill the commission which it has received from 
the country, to recall that the preponderance of the parlia- 
mentary power, exercised through ministerial responsibility, 
is the first condition of the government of the country by the 
country, the establishment of which the constitutional laws 
have had for their purpose ; 

Declares that the confidence of the majority can be acquired 
only by a cabinet free in its action and resolved to govern ac- 
cording to- republican principles, which alone can guarantee 
order and prosperity within and peace without. 

And passes to the order of the day. 

D. Manifesto of the Left. About May 20, 1877. Trans- 
lation, The Times (London), May 21, 1877. 

Dear Fellow-Citizens, — A Decree which has just struck 
a blow at j^our representatives is the first act of the new 
Ministry de Combat, which aspires to hold in check the will 
of France. The Message of the President of the Republic 
leaves no doubt as to the intentions of his counsellors. The 
Chamber is adjourned for a month, till the Decree to dissolve 
it is obtained from the Senate. A Cabinet which had never 
lost the miajority in any vote has been dismissed without 
discussion. The new Ministers knew that if they had allowed 
Parliament to speak, the day that witnessed their advent 
would have also witnessed their fall. As it is impossible for 
us to publicly express our reprobation from the tribune, our 
first thought is to turn towards you, and tell you, like the Re- 
publicans of the National Assembly of the 24th of May 1873, 
that the efforts of the men who have returned to power will 
be once more powerless. France wishes the Republic. She 



THE 16TH OP MAY CRISIS 643 

said so on the 20th of February, 1876. . She will say so again 
every time she is consulted, and it is because universal suf- 
frage has to renew this year the Departmental and Communal 
Councils that it is attempted to stop the expression of the 
national will, and that the first ,step taken is to shut your 
representatives' mo'Uths ; as after the 24th of May the nation 
will show, by its coolness, patience, and resolution, that an 
incorrigible minority cannot wrest from it its own government. 
However painful this unexpected trial may be which is dis- 
turbing the interests, and which might compromise the success 
of the grand efforts of our industry for the great and pacific 
Universal Exhibition of 1878, whatever be the national 
anxiety amid the complications of European politics, France 
will let herself neither be deceived nor intimidated. She 
will resist every provocation. The Republican function- 
aries will remain at their posts and await the decree 
which separates them from, constituencies whose confidence 
they have. Those of our countrymen who have been called 
into the Elective Councils of the nation will redouble their 
zeal and activity, their devotion and patriotism, to maintain 
the rights and liberties of the country. We shall enter into 
direct communication with you. We call upon you to pro- 
nounce between the policy of reaction and ventures, which 
overturns all that six years have so painfully gained — ^the wise 
and firm, pacific and progressive policy which you have already 
consecrated. The trial will not be long. In five months at most 
France will speak; the Republic will issue, stronger than ever, 
from the popular urns ; the Parties of the past will be finally 
vanquished; and France will be able to face the future with 
calmness and confidence. 

E. MacMahon's Manifesto to the French People. Septem- 
ber 19, 1877. Journal Officiel, September 20, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 
6381). 

MARSHAL DE MACMAHON^ PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, TO THE 
FRENCH PEOPLE. 

Frenchmen ! 

You are about to be called upon to select your representa- 
tives in the Chamber of Deputies. 

I do not design to exert any pressure upon your choice, 
but 1 am bound to dissipate all ambiguity. 



644 ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ -^^^ CRISIS 

It is necessary that you should know what I have done, 
what I intend to do, and what will be the consequences of 
that which you are about to do yourselves. 

This is what I have done : 

For four years I have maintained peace, and the personal 
confidence with which foreign sovereigns honor me has enabled 
me to render more cordial each day our relations with all- 
the powers. 

At home order has not been disturbed for one moment. 

Thanks to a policy of conciliation which summoned around 
me all the men devoted before anything else to the country, 
the public prosperity, for a moment arrested by our misfor- 
tunes, has iesumed its advance. The general wealth has in- 
creased despite our heavy expenses. The national credit has 
been strengthened. 

France, peaceable and confident, at the same time has seen 
her army, always worthy of her, reconstituted upon a new basis. 

But these great results were in danger of being compro- 
mised. 

The Chamber of Deputies, escaping more each day from the 
leadership of moderate men, and more and more dominated 
by the avowed leaders of radicahsm, had come to disregard the 
portion of authority which belongs to me and which I could 
not allow to be diminished without involving the honor of 
my name before you and before history. Contesting at the 
same time the legitimate influence of the Senate, it aimed at 
nothing less than to substitute for the necessary equilibrium 
of the powers established by the Constitution the despotism of 
a new Convention. 

Hesitation was not permissible. 

Making use of my constitutional right, upon the advice of 
the Senate, I dissolved the Chamber of Deputies. 

Now it is for you to speak. 

It is said that I wish to overthrow the Republic. 

You will not believe it. 

The Constitution is entrusted to my keeping. I shall 
cause it to be respected. 

What I expect of you is the election of a Chamber which, 
raising itself above the competition of parties, will before all 
else devote itself to the affairs of the country. 

At the last elections my name was abused. Among those 



THE 16TH OF MAY CRISIS 645 

who then said that they were my friends many have not 
ceased opposing me. They will speak to-day of devotion +0 
my person, and allege that they attack only my ministers. 

You will not be the dupes of that artifice. In order to 
defeat it, my Government will designate to you from among 
the candidates those who alone will be authorised to use my 
name. 

You will weigh maturely the significance of your votes. 

Elections favorable to my policy will facilitate the regular 
progress of the present government. They will strengthen the 
principle of authority which has been sapped by demagogy; 
they will assure order ahd peace. 

Hostile elections would aggravate the conflict between 
the public powers, fetter the progress of affairs, keep up the 
agitation, and France, in the midst of new complications, would 
become an object of distrust to Europe. 

As for me, my duty would increase with the peril. I could 
not obey the summons of demagogy. I could not become the 
instrument of radicalism nor abandon the post at which the 
Constitution has placed me. 

I shall remain to defend, with the support of the Senate, 
the conservative interests and to energetically protect the faith- 
ful functionaries who in a difficult moment have not allowed 
themselves to be intimidated by vain threats. 

Frenchmen ! 

I await, with entire confidence, the expression of your 
sentiments. 

After so many trials, France desires stability, order and 
peace. 

With the aid of God, we shall secure for her these blessings. 
You will hear the words of a soldier who does not serve any 
party, any revolutionary or retrograde passion, and who is 
guided only by love of the fatherland. 

F. Gambetta's Circular. October 7, 1877. Translation, 
The Times (London), October 8, 1877. 

Citizens, — After four long months of suppression of Par- 
liamentary life .entirely taken up with the excesses of admin- 
istrative pressure, and the most deplorable proceedings of 
official candidateship, after four months, during which the 
French people, by its admirable patience and the daily proofs 



646 



THE 16TH OF MAY CRISIS 



of its sagacity and political maturity, has attracted to our 
young Republic the admiration and expressed sympathies of 
civilized Governments and peoples, France at last speaks. She 
will say in a few days what she thinks of the men of May 
16, the allies and protectors of the men of the 2d of December, 
of the servants of Henry V, and the agents of the Syllabus 
and the Pope, all sheltered under the electoral patronage of the 
President of the Republic, doubtless for the better protection 
of RepubHcan institutions. 

She will say what she thinks of the personal policy of the 
Chief of the State, of the aristocratic and retrogressive pre- 
tensions of the Cabinet presided over by the Due de Broglie. 

She will say what she thinks of the unjustifiable dissolution 
of the Republican and Liberal majority which she had en- 
trusted with the execution of her wishes on the 20th of Feb- 
ruary, 1876, by nearly five million votes. 

She will say what she thinks of the fighting Government, 
of the Government of vexations directed against vendors and 
hawkers of journals, schoolmasters, office holders, innkeepers, 
the most insignificant employes — in short, the Government of 
that miserable war waged against the small ; she will say what 
she thinks of the pretensions on the part of the Government to 
impose on her for another three years functionaries of all 
kinds, in flagrant hostility to all the men elected by the country ; 
she will say what she thinks of the projects and plots of this 
coalition of Monarchists, who prepare for her, at the close 
of three years of intestine conflicts and divisions, in 1880 a 
terrible crisis, perhaps a revolution; she will say what she 
thinks of that unclean press which can, without incurring pun- 
ishment, appeal to brute force against the men elected by uni- 
versal suffrage, and can insult our valiant and noble army, 
now the elite of the nation and the highest hope of the country. 

She will say what she thinks of the policy inaugurated by 
the letter of May 16, which dismissed the Republican Ministry, 
of the Order of the Day to the troops at the review of July 
2, of the Presidential Message of September 19, of all that 
system of government which the Chief of the Executive Powers 
vindicates as a right prior to the Constitution. 

France will say, also, that she, favouring equity and democ- 
racy, wishes for the Republic, as the Government necessary 



THE 16TH OP MAY CRISIS 647 

for her restoration and her greatness. She will say that she 
intends to make an end of anarchy and dictatorships, to^ carry 
out by peaceful measures the French Revolution, by develop- 
ing by national education the intelligence of her children, by 
securing by peace at home and abroad general pro'sperity and 
happiness, by founding on liberty and justice not "Moral 
Order," but "Republican Order." She will say that she intends 
that the State as well as the community, the nation as well as 
the individual, shall be definitively withdrawn from clerical 
rule; that the priest shall be respected and kept within the 
temple, the schoolmaster within the school, the magistrate 
within the court, and that the public force shall never be 
employed except in the service of the law. 

My profound conviction, based on sure premises, allows 
me to declare without rashness a week before the voting that 
France in spite of all the maneuvres directed against the free- 
dom of her votes, will repudiate the administrative pressure, 
will scorn the official candidateship and its agents, and will 
thrust far from her Royalists, Caesarists, Clericals, the knaves 
as well as the violent ; she will condemn dictatorial policy, she 
will leave the Chief of the Executive Power, transformed into 
a plebiscitary candidate, no other alternative but to submit or 
resign. 

As for ourselves, sure of the support of the country thus 
solemnly declared, we shall know how to cause its will to pre- 
vail over the opposition of a powerless and incorrigible min- 
ority. Without passion, without weakness, without vehemence, 
we will do our duty. The union of all good Frenchmen, Lib- 
erals, Republicans, by conviction or by birth, labourers, peas- 
ants, burgesses, the world of Work and of thrift, will keep us 
discreet, and will render us invincible for the country and the 
Republic. 

G. MacMahon's Second Manifesto. October 11, 1877. 
Journal Oificiel, October 12, 1877 (Vol. 1877, 6757). 

MARSHAL DE MACMAHON, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, TO THE 
FRENCH PEOPLE. 

Frenchmen, 

You are about to vote. 

The violence of the opposition has dispelled all illusions. 
No calumny can any longer impair the truth. 



648 



SOCIALIST GENERAL PROGRAM 



No, the republican Constitution is not in danger. 

No, the Government, although it is respectful towards re- 
ligion, does not obey so-called clerical influences, and nothing 
could inveigle it into a policy compromising to peace. 

No, you are not threatened with any return to the abuses of 
the past. 

The struggle is between order and disorder. 

You have already pronounced. 

You do not wish, by hostile elections, to throw the country 
into an unknown future of crises and co'uflicts. 

You desire tranquility within' as well as abroad, the accord 
of the public powers and security for industry and business. 

You will vote for the candidates whom I recommend to your 
free suffrage. 

Frenchmen, 

The hour has come. 

Go to the polls without fear. 

Comply with my appeal, and I, placed by the Constitution 
at a post which my duty forbids me to abandon, I will answer 
for order and peace. 

H. MacMahon's Message. December 14, 1877. Journal 
OfUciel December 15, 1877 (Vol 1877, 8381). 

Versailles, December 14, 1S77. 

Messrs Senators, 

Messrs Deputies, 

The elections of October 14th have once more affirmed 
the v:onfidence of the country in republican institutions. 

In order to obey parliamentary rules, I have formed a cab- 
inet chosen from within the two^ Chambers and composed of 
men resolved to defend and maintain these institutions by 
the sincere application of the constitutional laws. 

The interest of the country requires that the crisis through 
v\^hich we are passing should be abated ; it requires with no less 
force that it should not be renewed. 

The exercise of the right of dissolution is in fact only a 
last method of consulting with a judge from whom there is no 
appeal and could not be erected into a system of government. 
I believed that I ought to make use of that right, and I con- 
form to the response of the country. 

The Constitution of 1875 has founded a parliamentary Re- 



THE 16TH OF MAY CRISIS 649 

public by establishing my irresponsibility, while it has in- 
stituted collective and personal responsibility for the mini^sters. 

Thus my respective duties and rights are defined. The 
independence of the ministers is the condition of their re- 
sponsibility. 

These principles, drawn from the Constitution, are those 
of my Government. 

The end of this crisis will be the point of departure for a 
new era of prosperity. 

All the public authorities will assent in promoting its de- 
velopment. The accord established between the Senate and 
the Chamber of Deputies, certain henceforth to regularly reach 
the term of its commission, will make possible the achieve- 
ment of the great legislative labors which the public interest 
demands. 

The Universal Exposition is about to open; commerce and 
industry are about to experience a new advance, and we shall 
offer to the world a new testimony of the vitality of our coun- 
try, which has always revived through industry, thrift and its 
deep attachment to the ideas of conservatism, order and lib- 
erty. 



135. General Program of the Socialist Regional Congress 
of the Centre. 

July 18-23, 1880. Journal des Economistes, Fourth Series, XI, 
407-409. 

This document is given in order to show the ideas and de- 
mands of the French socialists who at present cast nearly two 
million votes. From the overthrow of the Paris Commvine until 
October, 1879, there was no organized socialist party in France. 
The Marseilles Congress then started the present socialist move- 
ment. It drew up resolutions and reports, but no general program. 
The Paris regional congress of the next year formulated the doc- 
ument here given, which with very slight alterntions has been 
sanctioned by successive national congresses and still remains the 
program of the party. It was mainly the work of Karl Marx and 
Jules Guesde. All of the organized French socialists accept this 
program as a declaration of principles ; the groups differ upon the 
tactics which should be employed in conducting the propaganda. 

EKrinjENODS. Peixotto, French Revolution and Modern French 
Socialiism, 278-286 ; Lavisse and Kambaud, Histoire Gcnerale, XII, 
43-44. 

The Regional Congress of the Centre considering that, if 



550 SOCIALIST GENERAL PROGRAM 

Revolution is the sole means for the emancipation of the 
working class, that Revolution is possible only with and by 
an organized working class ; 

Considering that the first act of that organization is neces- 
sarily the separation of the working class from the bourgeois 
political parties, and that this separation must be effected upon 
political grounds with the aid of that same ballot which has 
created the confusion of the classes politically; 

Considering, finally, that the worst enemies of the Revolu- 
tion are those who, while talking at random, refuse to employ 
any of the means which will retider it possible; 

Declares that it accepts the electoral program published 
by the newspapers la Revue Socialiste, le Proletaire, I'Egalite 
and la Federation^ with the following slight modifications (in- 
dicated in italics) : 

Considering that the emancipation of the productive class 
is that of all human beings without distinction of sex or of 
race; 

That the producers cannot be free except in so far as they 
shall be in possession of the means of production ; 

That there are only two forms under which the means of 
production can belong to them : 

I St. The individual form, which has never existed as an 
actual general condition and which is being eliminated more 
and more by industrial progress ; 

2d. The collectivist form, the material and intellectual 
elements of which are created by the very development of 
capitalistic society; 

Considering that this collective appropriation can proceed 
only from the revolutionary action of the productive class — 
or proletariate — organized as a distinct political party; 

That such an organizadon must be sought by all the means 
at the disposal of the proletariate, including therein universal 
suffrage, transformed thereby from an instrument of decep- 
tion, which it has been until now, into an instrument of em- 
ancipation ; 

The French socialistic workingmen, in giving as the aim 
of their efforts in the economic domain the return to the col- 
lective form of all the means of production, have decided as 
a method of organization and of strife to enter into the elec- 
tions with the following minimum program : 



SOCIALIST GENERAL PROGRAM 651 

A. Political Program. 

I St. Abolition of all laws upon the presis, meetings^ and 
associations, and especially of the law against the International 
Association of Laboringmen. — Suppression of the pass-book, 
that m-ise en carte of the working class, and of the articles of 
ilie Code establishing the inferiority of the workingman as 
against the employer ; 

2d. Suppression of the religious budget and return to the 
nation ''of the properties called mortmain, both movable and 
immovable, belonging to the religious corporations" (decree of 
the Commune of April 2, 1871), including therein all the in- 
dustrial and commercial annexes of these corporations ; 

3d. General arming of the people ; 

4th. The commune to be the mistress of its own admni- 
istration and police. 

B. Economic Program. 

1st. Cessation of labor for one day per zveek or legal pro- 
hibition for employers operating more than six days out of 
.y^z'^/L— Reduction of the working day to eight hours for 
adults. — Prohibition of the working of children under 14 years 
in private factories ; and, from 14 to 18 years, reduction of the 
working day to six hours ; 

2d. Legal minimum of wages, determined each year ac- 
cording to the local price of the commodities ; 

3d. Equality of wages for the workers of the two sexes ; 

4th. Scientific and professional instruction for all the 
children placed for their support under the charge of society, 
represented by the State and the communes; 

5th. Placing under the charge of society the aged and in- 
firm zt'Orkingm en ; 

6th. Suppression of all interference of employers in the 
administration of workingmen's funds for mutual relief, of 
provision, etc., restored to the exclusive management of the 
workingmen ; 

7th. Responsibility of employers in the matter of acci- 
dents guaranteed by a money deposit paid in by the employer 
and proportioned to the number of workingmen employed and 
the dangers which the industry presents ; 

8th. Participation in the [formation of] the special rules 
of the different factories ; suppression of the right usurped by 



6^2 PAPACY AND THIRD REPUBLIC 

employers to impose any penalty whatever upon their working- 
men under the form of fines or of retentions out of their wages 
(decree of the Commune of April 27, 1871) ; 

9th. Revision of all contracts which have alienated public 
property (banks, railroads, mines, etc.) , and the control of all 
the factories of the State entrusted to the workingmen who 
labor in them ; 

loth. Abolition of all indirect taxes and transformation of 
all the direct taxes into a progressive tax upon incorhes in 
excess of 3,000 francs. — Suppression of inheritance in the col- 
lateral line and of all inheritahce in the direct line exceed- 
ing 2,000 francs. 



136. Documents upon the Papacy and the Third Republic. 

The attitude of the Catholic clergy of France towards the 
Third Republic has gone through three distinct phases. (1) 
From the overthrow of the Second Empire until the definitive es- 
tablishment of the Republic the great majority were monarchists. 
(2) From then until the appearance of these documents many of 
them continued to oppose the Republic, although some became its 
supporters, while a large number .assumed a neutral position. (3> 
Since the publication of these documents the majority have com- 
plied with the suggestion of the Pope and accepted the Republic. 

RjOFERENCES. Coubertin, Evolution of France under the Third 
Repiiblic, Ch. x ; McCarthy, Leo XIII, Ch. xv ; Lavisse and Ram- 
bAud, Tlistoire Generate, XII, 42-43. 

A. Papal Encyclical. February 16, 1892. Translation, 
The Times (London), February 20, 1892. 

There have been many Governments in France during this 
century, and each has had its distinctive form — Imperial, 
Monarchical and Republican. Each of these is good so long 
only as it makes for the common well being, and one form may 
be good at one time and another at another. Catholics, like all 
citizens, have a perfect right to prefer one form to another, 
as none of these forms in itself is opposed to Christian teach- 
ing. The Church has always in its dealing with States fully 
recognized this principle. It was necessary to recall this fact 
in the development of the present theme. But if one comes 
down to the practical consideration of instances, one notes that 
each State is a special individual result, growing out of and 
modified by its peculiar surroundings, and thus obligatory upon 



PAPACY AND THIRD KEPUBLIC 653 

the members which compose it, who should do nothing to seek 
to overturn it or change its form. 

The Church, therefore, guardian of the truest and loftiest 
conception of political sovereignty, since it derives from God, 
has always reproved subversive doctrines and condemned the 
rebels to legitimate authority, and this, indeed, even when 
those in authority used their power against the Church, and 
thus deprived themselves of the most powerful support pos- 
sible and the most effective means of securing obedience to 
the law. The advice of the Prince of Apostles in these mat- 
ters cannot be too widely meditated, nor that of St. Paul. Yet 
it must not be forgotten that no governmental form is defini- 
tive. The Church alone has been able, and will continue, to pre- 
serve its form, of government. Founded by Him, who was, who 
is, and who shall be, world without end, it has received from 
Him since its origin everything which it needed to pursue its 
divine mission across the moving sea of human things. Far 
from there being any need of transforming its essential con- 
stitution, it has not even the power of renouncing the priv- 
ileges of true liberty granted to it by Providence in the gen- 
eral interest of souls. But in human history crisis follows 
crisis, revolution revolution, and order anarchy, and in these 
circumstances a new form of government may be needful to 
satisfy new wants and conditions. The principle of authority 
never changes, but only the method of its expression or the 
form of its incarnation. Hence authority is enduring, for in 
its nature it is imposed for the well-being of all, or, in other 
terms, is considered, as such, to be derived from God. Con- 
sequently, when a new Government is founded, acceptance 
thereof is not only permissible, but a duty. This great duty 
of respect and dependence will always continue in force, since 
it tends to secure the good which, after God, is in society the 
Alpha and Omega of principles. 

These considerations explain the attitude of the Church 
towards the successive Governments of France, and such an 
attitude is the safest and surest for all Frenchmen in their 
civil relations with the Republic, which is the existing Govern- 
ment of their nation, for all their efforts ought to be directed 
against division and toward the moral uplifting of their father- 
land. But for some people there is a difficulty here. This 



654 PAPACY AND THIRD REPUBLIC 

Republic, they say, is animated by sentiments so anti-Christian 
that honorable men, and Catholics in particular, could not 
conscientiously accept it, and this is a widespread cause of 
dissension. But all this divergence might have been avoided 
but for a regrettable confusion of "constituted powers" and 
"legislation." Indeed, under the most unimpeachable form 
legislation may be detestable, and likewise under a very imper- 
fect form there may be excellent legislation. History bears 
ample v/itness, and the Church has always recognized .this 
fact. 

B. Papal Brief to the French Cardinals. May 5, 1892. 
Translation, The Times (London), May 7, 1892. 

Great was our consolation on receiving the letter by which, 
in unanimous concert with the whole French episcopate, you 
adhered to our encyclical. . . , This encyclical has already 
done much good, and will, we hope, do more, in spite of the 
attacks to which it has been exposed on the part of impas- 
sioned men — attacks against which, moreover, we are glad to 
say that it has also found valiant defenders. . . . 

. Now, these efforts would become essentially barren 
if the conservative forces were lacking in unity and harmony 
in the pursuit of the ultimate end — namely, the preservation 
of religion; inasmuch as thither should tend every upright 
man, every sincere friend of society. This our encyclical 
amply demonstrated. But the end once defined, the need of 
union in order to attain it once admitted, what will be the 
means of insuring this union? This, too, we explained, and 
we desire to restate it that no one may be in doubt as to our 
meaning. One way is to accept without reserve, with that 
perfect loyalty becoming in a Christian, the civil power in 
the form in which de facta it exists. Thus, was accepted in 
France the First Empire on the morrow of a frightful and 
bloody anarchy. Thus were accepted the other successive 
powers, whether monarchic or Republican, down to our own 
time. And the reason for this acceptance is that the common 
weal of society makes it pre-eminent over any other interest. 
For it is the creative principle, the conservative element of 
human society, hence it follows that every good citizen ought 
to wish it and procure it at any price. 



PAPACY AND THIRD REPUBLIC 655 

Now, from this necessity of insuring the good of all 
springs, as from its own immediate origin, the necessity .of a 
civil power which, turned ever towards the supreme end, 
thither guides, wisely and continually, the varied wills of the 
subjects grouped together in its hand. When, therefore, in a 
society a constituted and active power exists common interest 
must be allied to that power, and for this reason it should be 
accepted as it is. It is for this reason and with this intent that 
we told the French Catholics, "accept the Republic, that is to 
say, the constituted power in your midst, respect it, be sub- 
missive to it as representing the power come from God." But 
there have been some men of different political parties, and 
even sincere Catholics, who have not accurately understood 
our words. Yet they were so clear and simple that they could 
scarcely, it would seem, have given occasion for misinterpre- 
tation. Let it be well understood that although the political 
power is always of God it does not follow from this that the 
divine appointment affects always the modes of transmission 
of that power or the contingent forms it assumes, or the per- 
sons who are the subjects of it. The very variety of these 
modes in different nations proves the human nature of their 
origin. And, still further, human institutions, the best estab- 
lished in right and with as salutary views as one could wish 
in order to give social life a firmer basis, do not always pre- 
serve their vigour conformably to the short insight of human 
wisdom. 

In politics more than anywhere else unexpected changes 
arise- Colossal monarchies collapse or fall to pieces like the 
ancient royalties of the East and the Roman Empire. Dy- 
nasties supplant dynasties like those of the Carlovingians and 
Capetians in France. To the political forms adopted succeed 
other forms, as numerous examples have shown in our cen- 
tury. These changes are far from being always legitimate at 
starting. It is even difficult that they should be. Yet the 
supreme criterion of the commonweal and public tranquility 
impose the acceptance of these new Governments established 
de facto in the place of previous Governments which de facto 
have ceased to exist. The ordinary rules of the transmission 
of power are accordingly suspended, and, indeed, they may 
even- be abolished. However it may be with these extraordi- 



656 



PAPACY AND THIRD REPUBLIC 



nary transformations in the life of peoples, whose laws it is for 
God to calculate and their consequences for men to utilize, 
common honour and conscience demand in every state of 
things a sincere subordination to constituted Governments. 
It is required by that supreme, unquestionable, inalienable 
right called reason or social welfare. What, indeed, would be- 
come of honour and conscience if it were allowable for the 
citizen to sacrifice to his personal aims and party connexions 
ihe blessings of public tranquility? 

After having firmly laid down this truth in our encyclical, 
we drew the distinction between the political authority and leg- 
islation, and we showed that the acceptance of one in r.o way 
implied acceptance of the other on points where the legislator, 
forgetful of his mission, should set himself in opposition to the 
law of God and of the Church. And let all bear in mind that 
to display activity and use influence to induce Governments to 
change for the better iniquitous laws void of wisdom is to give 
proof of a. devotion to the country equally intelligent and cour- 
ageous without evincing a shadow of hostility to the author- 
ities deputed to govern public affairs. Who would think of de- 
nouncing the Christians of the first centuries as adversaries' of 
the Roman Empire because they did not bow to its idolatrous 
prescriptions, but endeavored to effect their abolition? On 
the religious ground thus understood the various Conservative 
political parties may and should be agreed. But the men who 
should subordinate everything to the previous triumph of their 
respective parties, even were i-'- on the plea that it was the fit- 
test for religious defence, wouM hence be convicted of placing, 
by a pernicious reversion of ideas, the politics which divide 
before the religion which unites. And it would be their fault 
if our enemies, profiting by their divisions, as they have only 
too much done, finally succeeded in crushing them all. 

It has been alleged that, in teaching these doctrines, we 
adopt towards France a conduct other than that which we pur- 
sue towards Italy, so that we are inconsistent. Yet this is not 
so. Our aim in telling French Catholics to accept the consti- 
tuted Government was and still is merely to safeguard the re- 
ligious interests, which in Italy impose on us the duty of de- 
manding incessantly the full liberty required for our sublime 
function of visible Head of the Church, appointed for the 



THE LAW OP ASSOCIATIONS 



657 



government of souls — a liberty which does not exist where the 
vicar of Jesus Christ is not, at home, a true sovereign, 'inde- 
pendent of all human sovereignty. What is the conclusion 
from this if it is not that the question which concerns us in 
Italy is also eminently a religious one as far as it is connected 
with the fundamental principle of the liberty of the Church. 
Hence in our conduct towards various nations we constantly 
make all converge to the same end, religion, and through re- 
ligion the deliverance of society, the welfare of peoples. . . . 



137. The Law of Associations. 

July 1, 1901. Duvergier, Lois. CI, 260-285. 

The hisLOJ-y of the Third Republic has been marked by frecjiient 
conflicts between the government and the Catholic clergy, especially 
oyer educational matters. The religious orders particularly are 
charged with inculcating in their pupils ideas hostile to the Re- 
public. This law was passed for the purpose of rciaching the 
orders most suspected of exerting such an influence. As this volume 
is passing through the press, a law forbidding all teaching by re- 
ligious orders is under consideration. It has already passed the 
Chamber of Deputies and seems likely to pass the Senate. 

Rkveke^'CE. Gerard, The French Law of Associations. 



TITLE III. 

13. No religious congregation can be formed without an 
authorisation given by a law which shall determine the con- 
ditions of its operation. 

It cannot found any new establishment except in virtue of 
a decree rendered in Council of 'State. 

The dissolution of the congregation or the closing of any 
establishment can be pronounced by decree rendered in council 
of the Ministers. 

14. No one is allowed to manage, either directly or 
through an interposed person, an educational institution of 
any kind whatsoever, nor to give instruction therein if he be- 
longs to a non-authorised religious congregation. 

Contravenors shall be punished with the penalties provided 
by article 8, §2. In addition, the closing of the institution 
can be pronounced by judgment of condemnation. 

15. Every religious congregation keeps a statement of its 



658 THE LAW OF ASSOCIATIONS 

receipts and expenses ; it prepares annually the financial ac- 
count of the past year and an inventoried statement of its 
real and personal property. 

The complete list of its members, mentioning their pa- 
tronymical names as well as the names under which they are 
designated in the congregation, their nationality, age and place 
of birth, the date of their entrance, must be kept at the resi- 
dence of the congregation. 

It is required to produce, without alteration, upon every 
requisition of the prefect, by himself or by his delegate, the 
accounts, statements and lists above mentioned. 

The representatives or directors of a congregation which 
shall have made false communications or refused to comply 
with the 'requisitions of the prefect in the cases provided for 
by the present article shall be punished with the penalties pro- 
vided by §2 of article 8. 

16. Every congregation formed without authorisation shall 
be declared illicit. 

Those who shall have taken part therein shall be punished 
with the penalties decreed by article 8, §2. 

The penalty applicable to the founders or administrators 
shall be doubled. 

18. The congregations existing at the moment of the pro- 
mulgation of the present law, which may not have been au- 
thorised or recognized, within the space of three months, must 
prove that they have made the necessary efforts in order to 
conform to its requirements. 

In default of this proof, they shall with perfect right be 
reputed dissolved. It shall be the same with the congregations 
to which the authorisation sh?il have been refused. 

Liquidation of the property retained by them shall take 
place .in the courts. The tribunal, at the request of the public 
minister, shall appoint, in order to proceed thereto, a liquida- 
tor who shall have during the entire continuance of the liqui- 
dation all the powers of a sequestration administrator. 

The judgment ordering the liquidation shall be made public 
in the form prescribed for legal announcements. 

The property and values belonging to members of the con- 
gregation, prior to their entrance into the congregation, or 



THE LAW OF ASSOCIATIONS 659 

which may have fallen to them since, either by succession 
ab intestat in the direct or collateral line, or by donation or 
legacy in the direct line, shall be restored to them. 

The gifts and legacies which may have come to them other- 
wise than in the direct line can likewise be reclaimed, but sub- 
ject to the furnishing of proof by the beneficiaries that they 
have not been the interposed persons provided for by article 17. 

The property and values acquired by gratuitous title and 
which may not have been specifically made over by instru- 
ment of gift to a work of charity can be reclaimed by the 
donor, his heirs or interested parties, or by the heirs or inter- 
ested parties of the testator, without it being possible to oppose 
to them any prescription for the time elapsed before the judg- 
ment pronouncing the liquidation. 

If the property or values have been given or bequeathed 
with a view not to favoring the congregationists, but to pro- 
vide for a work of charity, they can be reclaimed on condition 
of providing for the accomplishment of the aim assigned for 
the gift. 

Every action in recaption or reclamation, on penalty ©f fore- 
closure, must be brought against the liquidator within the 
space of six months, dating from the publication of the judg- 
ment. 

After both parties have been heard, judgments rendered for 
the liquidator and which have acquired the authority of res 
adjud'ica are opposable to all interests. 

After the space of six months, the liquidator shall proceed 
to the sale by judicial process of all immovables which may 
not have been reclaimed or which may not be appropriated to 
a work of charity. 

The product of the sale, as well as all the movable values, 
shall be deposited with the deposit and consignment fund. 

The maintenance of the poor in hospitals, until the com- 
pletion of the liquidation, shall be considered as privileged 
expenses of liquidation. 

If there is no contest or when all the actions brought with- 
in the prescribed period shall have been adjudicated, the net 
assets are divided among the interested parties. 

The rule of public administration laid down by article 20 
of the present law shall determine, out of the assets remaining 



66o THE LAW OF ASSOCIATIONS 

free after the previous deduction above provided for, the allow- 
ance, in capital or under form of life annuity, which shall be 
assigned to the members of the dissolved congregation who 
may not have assured means of existence or who may prove 
that they have contributed to the acquisition of the values 
put in distribution by their personal labor. 

20. A rule of public administration shall determine the 
proper measures to assure the execution of the present law. 

THE eiJd. 



INDEX 



Abdications, first of Napoleon, 
90, 446; of Charles X, 104G, 
504; of Francis II, 78D, 403; 
second of Napoleon, 90F, 449. 

Act, additional, the, 98, 471: of 
the Senate, 90B, 444; organic, 
upon education, 38C, 169; or- 
ganic, upon religion, 291, 140. 

Address to the throne, 117A, 
574. 

Address, Bordeaux, the 114C, 
557; of the Commune of 
Marseilles, 22/^, 110; of the 
Oorxts-Legaslatif to Napole- 
on, 88, 437; of the Fed- 
eres at Paris, 22B, 313; 
of the Jacobin club, 26. 126; 
of the municipality of 
Vedennes, 114B, 556; of the 
Paris Sections, 22C, 114; of 
the Throne, Imperial decree 
upon, 117A, 574. (See also 
Message, Speech.) 

Administrative system, law, 
60, 283. 

Alliance. See Allies, Treaties. 

Allies, declaration against Na- 
poleon, 97, 469; declaration of 
Frankfort, 87, 436; procla- 
mation of, 90A, 443; treaty 
of, against France, 100, 482. 

Amendments, of 1884. the, 
133E, 639; proposed Labou- 
laye, the, 132C; 632; to the 
constitution, senatus-consul- 
tum upon, 117D, 577; i^pon 
the seat of government, 
133D, 639; Wallon, the, 132\>, 
632. 

Amiens, treaty, 63, 294. 



Annexations of 1809-1810, 84. 

425-436. 
Appeal, election, 11 IF, 543. 
April, petition of 16th of, 108, 

521. 
Army, proclamation of, 75A, 
379; proclamation to, 111C, 
541; reorganization, law, 128, 
618. 
Articles, organic, for the Cath- 
olic church, 64B, 299; organ- 
ic, for the Protestant sects, 
64D, 307. 
Assignats, decree, 47, 204. 
Assembly, extraordinary, 95, 

466. 
Assistance and fraternity, 28A, 

129. 
Associations, law, 137, 657. 
August. See Fourth of August. 
Austria. 

Armistice with France (Vil- 

lafranca), 116E, 571. 
Declaration of war against, 

19, 103. 
Treaties with France, Campo 
Formio. 55, 261; Luneville, 
62, 290; Pressburg, 74, 375; 
Vienna, 85, 430; Zurich, 
116F, 572. 
Ultimatum to Sardinia, 116A. 
566. 



Basle, treaty, 48A, 206. 

Benedetti, proposed treaty, 120, 
591. 
J Berlin, decree, 77B, 385. 
i Body guard, the King's, 20B, 
i 106. 
i Bookselling, 86, 433. 



662 



INDEX 



Bordeaux, address, 114C, 557. 

Brief, papal, 136B, 654. 

British. See Great Britain. 

Brumaire, decree, 57, 269. 

]Duke of Brunswick's Manifes- 
to, 23, 118. 

Budget, senatus-consultum on, 
117C, 576. 

Calendar, Republican, 44, 191. 

Campo Formio, treaty, 55. 261. 

Casimir-Perier, proposal, ■132A, 
631. 

Catechism, Imperial, 65B, 313. 

Catholic church, organic arti- 
cles for, 64B, 299. 

Chamber of Deputies, declar- 
ation, 104H, 505; King's 
speech to, 1C3A, 491; proc- 
lamation, 104E, 502; response 
to Charles X, 103B, 492. 

Chambord, manifesto. See 
White Flag letter. 

Charles X, abdication, 104G, 
504; response to Chamber. 
103C, 493; speech, 103A, 491. 

Charter, constitutional, 93, 456. 

Chaumont, treaty, 89, 440. 

Circulars, diplomatic, upon 
Franco-Prussian war, 123, 
596-601; Gambetta's, 134F. 
645; letter of Louis XVI to 
foreign courts, 10, 39; of 
keeper of seals, 102, 489; 
Padua, the, 13, 54; Persigny, 
the, lis, 586. 

Civil constitution of the cler- 
gy, 6C, 16. 

Church, buildings, 29H, 139; 
Constituent Assembly and. 
6, 15-23; lands, 6A, 15. 

Clergy. 

Civil constitution of, 6C, 16. 
Dangerous, decree upon, 29C, 
135. 

Non-juring, decree (rejected) 
upon, 17B, 99; decree upon, 
29B, 134; decree upon de- 
portation of, 20A, 104. 
Oath of, 6D, 22. 



Clerical oath. 6D, 22. 

Committees, Revolutionary, 33, 
157; Pubhc Safety, 35, 1.59. 

Communal law, 127A, 612. 

Commune of Marseilles, 22A, 
110. .. 

Concordat, the 64A, 296. 

Confederation of the Rhine, 
78, 397; declaration of, 78C\ 
401; treaty for, 78A, 398. 

Congress of Paris, 115., 560, 

Constituent Assembly, decree 
' abolishing industrial corpo- 
rations, 11, 43; decree abol- 
ishing nobility, 8, 34; decree 
concerning King, 12F, 53 and 
12H, 54; decree creating, 1, 
1; decree for maintaining 
public order, 12B, 51; decree 
on measures of, first, 12C, 
51; decree on measures of, 
second, 12D, 52; decree on 
oath of allegiance, 12E, 52; 
decree of, 3C, 10; de- 
cree reorganizing judiciary, 
9, 34; decree reorganiz- 
ing local government, 7, 24; 
documents upon, 6, 15; pro- 
test of the Right, 12G, 53. 

Constitution. 

Amendments to, 117D, 577; 

Constitutional laws and 

amendments 133, 633-639. 

Constitutional statutes, 72A, 

368. 
Declaration upon, 27A, 128. 
King's acceptance of, 16, 96. 
(See also Constitutions of 
France.) 

Constitutions of France, of 1791, 
15, 58; of 1793 (year I), 39, 
170; of 1795 (year III), 50, 
212; of 1799 (year VIII), 58, 
270; of 1802 (year X), sena- 
tus-consultum of Aug. 4, 
1802, 66E, 327; 1804 (year 
XII), senatus-consultum of 
May 18, 3 804, 71, 343; of 1814, 
constitutional charter cf 
1814, 93, 456; of 1815, the Act 



INDEX 



663 



additional, 98, 471; of 1830, 

105, 507; of 1848, 110, 522; 

of 1852, 112, 544; of 1870, sen- 

atus-consultum of May 21, 

1870, 117H, '581; constitutioa- 

al laws and amendments, 

133, €33. 
Constitutional laws of 1875, 

133A-C, 633-636. 
Constitutional statute upon 

Italy, 72A, 368. 
Consulate, constitution of, 50, 

212; for life, 66, 323-327. 
Consuls, order of, 66D, 326. 
Continental system, 77, 384- 

396. 
Convention. 

Declaration of, assistance to 
foreign peoples, 28A, 129; 
129; on constitution, 27A, 
128; religious policy, 29A. 
134; w^ar against Great 
Britain, 31, 148. 

Decrees, laws and acts, 
abolishing monarchy, 2713, 
128; assignats, 47, 204; cal- 
endar, 44, 191; Committees, 
Public Safety, 35, 159: 
Committees, Revolutionary, 
33, 157; dating documen-s, 
27D, 129; deputies on mis- 
sion, 37, 164; education, 
38A-C, 167-169; Emigres, 
30B, 147; enforcement of 
laws, 27C, 129; Government 
of Terror, 45, 194; Govern- 
ment, Revolutionary, 43, 
189; levy en masse, of, 40, 
183; maximum, of. 42, 187; 
non-intervention, 28C, 133; 
priests and religion, 29B-I, 
134-140; proclaiming liber- 
ty 28B, 130; suspects, of, 
41, 185; tribunal. Revolu- 
tionary, 32A, 151 and 32B, 
154; unity of Republic, 
27E, 129. 
Election of, 25, 124. 



and Education, 38, 167. 
and Religion, 29, 133. 

Conventions, Dardenelles, 115B, 
564; Erfurt, 82, 421; of 
Fontainebleau, 81 A, 418; 
with Charles IV, 81B, 420; 
with Genoa, 54, 259; with 
Prussia, 48B, 208. (See also 
Treaties.) 

Corps-Legislatif, address to 
Napoleon, 88, 437; and Sen- 
ate, 122, 596. 

Crisis of the 16th of May, 134, 
640-648. 

Coup d'Etat of December 2, 
1851, 11, 538-543. 

Dardanelles convention, 115B. 
564. 

Debates, publication of, 1173, 
575. 

De Broglie, interpellation, 
129A, 622. 

Declarations, for assistance and 
fraternity to foreign peoples, 
28A, 129; of Chamber of Dep- 
uties, 104H, 505; of confed- 
erated states, 78C, 401; of 
Fl-ankfort, 87, 436; of inten- 
tions of King, 3B, 5; of King, 
June 20, 1791, 12A, 45; of 
King upon states-general, 
3A, 3; of Paris commune, 
126, 608; of Pilnitz, 14, 57; of 
powers against Napoleon, 
96, 468; of regent of France. 
30A, 145; of rights of man 
and citizen, 5, 15; of rights, 
Robespierre's proposal, 36, 
160; of St. Ouen, 92, 455; 
of the Tribunate, 66A, 324; 
of war against Austria, 19, 
10'3; of war against Great 
Britain, 31, 148; of 1682, 64C, 
305; relative to workingmen, 
107B, 516; respecting mari- 
time power, 115C, 565; Tar- 
get, the, 129D, 627; upon the 
constitution, 27A, 128; upon 



664 



INDEX 



the Republic, 109, 522; upon 
the reorganization of Ger- 
many, 69, 339. 

Decrees, address to throne, 
upon, 117A, 574; Assembly 
(June 23, 1789), 3C, 10; As- 
sembly convoking-, extraor- 
dinary, 95^ 466; Assembly, 
first, measures upon, 12C, 51 ; 
Assembly, second, measures 
upon, 12D, 52; Assembly Na- 
tional (June 17, 1789), 1, 1; 
Assembly, National (Mar. 5, 
1848), 107H, 519; Assembly, 
National (Dec. 2, 1851), 111 A, 
538; assignats, 47^ 204; Bona- 
parte, Joseph, King of Na- 
ples, 75B, 380; Berlin, the, 
77B, 385; Bonaparte, Joseph. 
King of Spain, 81C, 421; Bo- 
naparte, Napoleon, deposing, 
90C, 444; Brumaire, the, 57, 
269; calendar. Republican, 
44, 191; church buildings, 
29H, 139; church lands, 6A, 
15; clergy, civil constitution 
of, 6C, 16; clergy, non-juring 
(rejected), 17B, 99; clerical 
oath, 6D, 22; Committee of 
Public Safety, 35, 159; Com- 

. mittees. Revolutionary, 33, 
157; convention, election of, 
25, 124; Corps-Legislatif and 
Senate, 122C, '596; criminal 
tribunal, extraordinary, 32A, 
151; departments and dis- 
tricts, 7B, 29; deputies on 
mission, 37, 164; documents, 
dating of, 27D, 129; docu- 
ments, papal, 6E, 23; educa- 
tion, primary, 38A, 167; edu- 
cation, secondary, 38B, 168; 
Emigres, against, 30B, 147; 
Emigres (rejected), 17A, 97; 
Fed6r6s, camp of, 20C, 106; 
fourth of August, 4, 11; Gov- 
ernment of the Terror, or- 
ganic, 45, 194; Government, 
Revolutionary, 43, 183; Impe- 
rial university, 65C, 314; in- 



dustrial corporations, 11, 43; 
interpellation, 117E, 578; ju- 
dicial system, 9, 34; Kings 
body guard, 20B, 106; Kin,?, 
concerning (June 25, 1791). 
12F, 53; King, concerning 
(July 16, 1791), 12H, 54; la- 
bor, 107G, 518; laws, enforce- 
ment of, 27C, 129; levy en 
masse, 40, 183; liberty, pro- 
claiming, 28B, 130; Louis 
XVI, suspension of, 24, 12:2; 
^ Milan, the, 77E, 393; mon- 
' archy, abolishing, 27B, 128; 
monastic vows, 6B, 16; mu- 
nicipalities, 7A, 24; Napol- 
eon, deposing, 90C, 444; no- 
bility, abolishing, 8, .34; no- 
bility, titles of, 107F, 518; 
non-intervention, 28C, 133; 
oath of allegiance, 12E, 52; 
offenders, political and press, 
122D, 596; papal states, 84A, 
425; plebiscite (Dec. 2, 1851); 
11 ID, 542; plebiscite (Dec. 4, 
1851), HIE, 542; press, 34, 
158; press, organic, 113, 550; 
priests, cangerous, 29C, 134; 
priests, deportation of non- 
juring, 20A, 104; priests, non- 
juring, 29B, 134; printing and 
bookselling, 86, 433; public 
order, 12B, 51; Rambouillet, 
77G, 396; rejected decrees, 17, 
97-99; religion, 29G, 139; re- 
ligion, expenditures for, 29F, 
138; religious freedom. 29D. 
136; religious policy, 29A. 134; 
Republic (Oct. 22, 1808), 83, 
424; Republic, unity of, 27E, 
129; slavery (1794), 46, 201; 
slavery (1848), 1071, 520; 
Thiers, 124A, 604; workshops, 
national, 107D, 517; worship 
of Supreme Being, 29E, 137. 
(See also Laws, Organic 
Acts.) 

Departments, laws upon, 7B, 
29; 127B, 613. 

Deputies on mission, 37, Ifi^- 



INDEX 



665 



Diet, Napoleon to the, 7SB, 

399. 
Dissolution of 1S30, 103, 491-494. 
Document=5, dating of public, 

27D, 129. 



Education, convention and, 38, 
167; Napoleon and, 65, 303- 
314; organic act upon, 38C, 
169; primary, 38A, 161; sec- 
ondary, 38B, 168. 

Election appeal, 111F, 543. 

Election law of 1830, 106, 513. 

Emigres, 17A, 97; 30, 144-1 i7. 

Ems despatch, 121, 593. 

Encyclical, papal, 136, 652. 

Erfurt convention, 82, 421. 

Ernoul, order of the day, 129C, 
627. 

Evolution of the Empire, 114, 
553-559. 

Evolution of the Liberal Em- 
pire, 117, 574-581. 

Executive power, decrees and 
laws upon, 124, 603. 

Expenditures, upon religion, 
29F, 137. 



Federes, address of, 22B, 113; 

camp of, 20c, 106. 
First Consul, message, 66C, 

325. 
Fontainebleau, convention of, 

81 A, 418; treaty of, 90G, 450. 
Foreign courts, 10, 39. 
Foreign policy, convention and, 

28, 129. 
Fourth of August, 4, 11. 
Fourth of September, 122, 595. 
Francis II, abdication, 78D, 

403. 
PYanco- Prussian war, 123, 596. 
Frankfort declaration, 87, 436. 
•Fraflemity, dqclarattion for. 

28A, 129. 



Gambetta, circular, 134F, 645. 
Genoa, 54, 259. 



Germany, confederation of .the 
Rhine, 78, 398; reorganiza- 
tion, 69, 339; Germany, North, 
annexation of, 84D,-430. 
Government, national defence, 
122, 595; proposals, 129B, 623; 
provisional of 1848, 107, 514; 
Revolutionary, 43, 189; seat 
of, 133D, 639; Terror, 45, 194; 
Thiers, 124, 604 and 129, 622- 
627. 
Great Britain. 

Declaration of war against, 

31, 148. 
Law upon its products, 53, 

258. 
Treaties, alliance against 
France, 100, 482; Amiens, 
63, 294; Chaumont, 89, 440; 
Congress of Paris, 115, 560- 
565; note to powers, 77 A, 
384; orders in council, 77C, 
387, 77D, 389, and 77F, 
394; with Russia, 73, 372. 

Hague, treaty, 49, 209. 
Holland, 

Annexation, 84D, 430. 
Treaties. Hague, 49, 209; 
with Prance, 76, 381; with 
France (1810), 84C, 428. 
Hostages, law, 56, 267. 
Hostilities, suspension of, 52A, 
255. 

Industrial corporations, 11, 43, 
Interpellation, De Broglie, 

129A, 622; Imperial decree, 

upon, 117E, 578. 
Italy, constitutional statut'.^, 

72A, 368; kingdom, 72, 368- 

369; war with, 116, 566-573. 

Jacobin club, address of, 26, 
126. 

Judicial system, 9, 34; 61, 288. 

July, monarchy, 107A, 515; 
ordinance, 104A, 495; revolu- 
tion, 104, 495-505. 



666 



INDEX 



Keeper of the seals, circular, 
102, 489. 

King, accepts constitution, 16, 
96; body guard of, 20, 106; 
■declaration of, 3A, 3 and 
12A, 45; decree concerning, 
12F, 53 and 12H, 54; fiight 
of, 12, 45; intentions of, 3B, 
5; of Prussia, letter to, 18, 
102; proclamation of, 103D, 
494; response to deputies, 
103C, 439; speech of, 103A, 
491 ; suspension of Louis XVI, 
24, 122. 

King of Prussia, letter to, 18, 
102. 

King's fiight, 12, 4i-54. 

Labor, decree, 107G, 518. 

I^aboulaye, proposed amend- 
ment, 132C, 632. 

Laws, adrainistrative system, 
reorganization of, 60, 283; 
army, for reorganizing, 128, 
618; associations, of, 137, 
657; British products, upon, 
53, 258; communal, 127A, 612; 
■constitutional, 133, 633-636, 
upon Senate, 133A, 633, upon 
organization of public pow- 
ers, 133B, 635, upon relation 
of public powers, 133C, 636; 
departmental, 127B, 613; 
elections, upon, 106, 513; hos- 
tages, of, 56, 267; judicial 
system, reorganization of, 
61, 288; Legion of Honor, for 
organizing, 67, 336; maxi- 
mum, of, 42, 187; 22 Pralrial, 
of, 32B, 154; presidency, upon 
the, 124C, 606; press, upon 
the (1819), 101 A, 455; press, 
upon the (1820), 101B, 485; 

• press-, urpon the (1822), 101C, 
488; public enemies, against, 
51, 254; public instruction, up- 
on, 65A, 308; public meetings, 
upon, 119, 589; Rivet, the, 
124B, 604; Septennate, of the, 



131, 630; slavery in colonies, 
upon, 68, 339; suspects, of, 
41, 185. (See also Decrees, 
Organic Acts.) 

Laws, enforcement of, 27C, 
129. 

Left, manifesto of the extreme, 
129E, 627. 

Legion of Honor, law, 67, 336. 

Letters, Louis XVI to foreign 
courts, 10, 39; Louis XVI to 
King of Prussia, 18, 102; 
* MacMahon to Simon, 134 A, 
640; Simon to MacMahon, 
134B, 641; White Flag, the, 
130, 627. 

Levy en masse, 40, 183. 

Liberal Emph^e, evolution of, 
117, 574. 

Liberty and sovereignty, 28B. 
130. 

Local government, 7, 24; 127, 
612-613. 

Louis Napoleon, 114, i56. 

Louis Philippe, proclamation, 
104F, 504. 

Louis XVI, acceptance of con- 
stitution, 16, 96; body guard 
of, 20B, 106; circular letter, 
10, 39; declarations upon in- 
tentions, 3B, 5; declarations 
upon states-general, 3A, 3; 
letters to King of Prussia, 
18, 102; suspension of, 24, 
122; upon fiight of, 12, 45- 
54. 

Luneville, treaty, 62, 290. 

Luxembourg commission, 107E, 
517. 



MacMahon, letter to Simon, 
134A, 640; manifestoes, 134E, 
643 and 134G, 647; message, 
134H, 648; Simon's letter to, 
134B, 641. 

Manifestoes, Duke of Bruns- 
v/ick's, 23, 118; extreme Left, 
129E, 627; MacMahon's to 
FreHch people (Sept. 19, 



INDEX 



667 



1877), 134E, 643; MacMahon's 
second (Dec. 14, 1877), 134G, 
648;' Thiers' Orleanist, 104D 
502. 

Marseilles, commune of, 22A, 
110. 

Maximum, law, 42, 187. 

Messages, First Consul to Sen- 
ate, 66C, 325; of MacMahon, 
134H, 648. (See also Speech, 
Address.) 

Milan, decree, 77E, 393. 

Milan, proclamation, 116D, 570. 

Monarchy, decree abolishing, 
27B. 128; overthrow of Span- 
ish, 81, 418. 

Monastic vows, 6B, 16. 

Municipalities, 7A, 24; 127A, 
612. 

Naples, Joseph Bonaparte, King 
of, 75B, 380; kingdom of, 75, 
378. 
Napoleon I, abdications, 90D, 
446 and 90F, 449; address of 
Corps-Legislatif to, 88, 437; 
alliance against, 97, 469; Con- 
sul for life, 66, 323; declara- 
tion against, 96, 468; depo- 
sition, 90C, 444; education, 
and, 65, 308; Emperor, 71, 
343; King of Italy, 72, 368; 
note to Diet, 78B, 399; proc- 
lamations, 75A, 379 and 94, 
464; reorganization of relig- 
ion, 64, 296. 
Napoleon III, proclamations, 

116C, 568 and 116D, 570. 
National Assembly. 
1789, 1, 1. 
1848, 107H, 519. 
1851, decree for dissolving 

the, 111 A, 538. 
1871-1875, decrees and laws, 
of the Septennate, 131, 630; 
upon executive power, 124, 
603-606; upon reorganiza- 
tion of army, 128, 618; up- 
on reorganization of local 
government, 127, 612-613. 



National workshops, 107D, >517. 

Newspapers, 59, 282. (See al- 
so Press.) 

Nobility, 8, 34; 107F, 518. 

Non-jntervention, decree upon, 
28C, 133. 

Non-juring clerg3^ See Cler- 
gy. 

Notes, Austrian ultimatum, 
116A, 566; British note to 
neutral powers, 77A, 384; Na- 
poleon to Diet, 78B, 399; re- 
ply of Sardinia, 116B, 568. 

Oath, allegiance, decree, 12E, 
52; clerical, decree upon, 6D, 
22; Tennis Court, 2, 2. 
Offenders, political and press, 

122D, 596. 
Orders, for Luxembourg com- 
mission, 107E, 517; of the 
consuls, 66D, 326; suppress- 
ing newspapers, 59, 282. 
Orders of the day, 134C, 642; 

Ernoul, 129C, 627. 
Orders in council, British 
(Jan. 10, 1807), 77C, 387; 
British (Nov. 11, 1807), 77D, 
389; British (Apr. 26, 1809), 
77F, 396. 
Ordinances, July, the, 104A. 
495; royal, upon the press. 
101D, 489. 
Organic acts and laws. 

Acts, upon education, 38C, 
169; upon religion, 291, 140. 
Articles, Catholic church, 
64B, 299; Protestant sects, 
64D, 307. 
Decree, Government of Ter- 
ror, 45, 194; press, 113, 550. 
Senatus-consultum, for an- 
nexation of papal states, 
84B, 430; for annexation 
of Holland and North Ger- 
many, 84D, 430. (See also 
Laws, Decrees.) 
Orleanist manifesto, Thiers", 

104D, 502. 
Padua, 13, 54. 



INDEX 



Papacy. 

Brief to French cardinals, 
136B, 654; documents upon, 
136, 652; publication of pa- 
pal documents, 6E, 23. (See 
also Pope.) 

Papal documents.. See Papacy. 

Papal states, annexation, 84A, 
425; 84B, 426. 

Paris. 

Congress of, 115, 560-565. 
Declaration of, 115C, 565. 
Deputies, protest of, 104C, 

501. 
Journalists, protest of, 104B, 

501. 
Proclamation to, 122B, 595. 
Sections, address of, 22C, 114. 
Treaties, 1814, 91, 451; 1815, 
99, 479; 1856, 115A, 561. 

Persigny, circular, 118, 586. 

Petitions, 20tli of June (1792), 
21, 107; 16th of April (1848), 
108, 521. 

Pilnitz, 14, 57. 

Plebiscite, first decree for, 
111D, 542; second decree for, 
111E, 542. 

Pope, treaties with, 52, 255- 
257. (See also Papacy.) 

Powers, Britisli note to neu- 
tral, 77A, 384. 

Prairial, law of 22, 32B, 154. 

Priests. See Clergy. 

Prince-President to Chambers, 
speech of, 114A, 553. 

Presidency law, 124C, 606. 

Press, decree upon, 34, 158; de- 
cree upon printing and book- 
selling, 86, 433; laws of the 
Restoration, 101, 485-4SS; of- 
fenders, political and, 122D, 
596; organic decree upon, 113. 
550; protest of Paris journal- 
ists (July 26, 1830), 104B, 
501 ; royal ordinance upon, 
101D, 489; suppression of, 59, 
282. (See also Newspapers.) 

Pressburg, treatj^ 74, 375. 

Printing, 86, 433. 



Proclamations, for Luxem- 
bourg commission, 107E, 517; 
of allies, 90A, 443; of army, 
75A, 379; of deputies, 104E, 
502; of King, 103D, 494; of 
kingdom, 72B, 369; of liber- 
ty and sovereignty, 28B, 130; 
of Louis-Philippe, 104F, 504; 
of Napoleon, 64, Vx64; of Na- 
poleon III, 116D, 570; of the 
Republic, 107C, 516; -over- 
throw of July monarchy, 
107A, 515; to army, 11 1C, 
541, to French people (1870), 
122A, 595; to Italians, 116D, 
570; to Parisians, 122B, 595; 
to people (1851), 11 IB, 538. 
Program, general socialist, 135, 

649. 
Projects and proposals, Bene- 
detti treaty, 120, 591; Casi- 
mir-Perier, the, 132A, 631; 
Governmeiit, the, 129B, 623; 
Laboulaye amendment, 132C, 
632; Robespierre's declara- 
tion of rights, 36, 160; Sen- 
ate's constitution, 90E, 446; 
Ventavon, the, 132B. 631. 
Proposals, government, 129B, 

623. 
Protest of the Right, 12G, 53. 
Protestant sects, organic ar- 
ticles for, 64D, 307. 
Protests, of Paris deputies, 
104C, 501; of Paris journalists, 
104B, 501; of the Right, 12G, 
53. 
Prussia. 

Diplomatic circular, 123B, 

599; 123C, 601. 
Treaties, alliance against 
France, 100, 482; Basle, 48A, 
206; Congi'ess of Paris, 115, 
560; preliminary^ of Ver- 
sailles, 125, 607; proposed 
Benedetti, the, 120, 591; 
secret convention, 48B, 208; 
with France (1807), 79C, 
411; with France (1808), 
79D, 415. 



INDEX 



669 



Public, documents, dating- ol', 

27D. 129. 
Public enemies, law, 51, 254. 
Public meetings, law, 119, 589. 
Public order, 12B, 51. 
Public powers, constitutional 

laws on, 133B, 635; 133C, 63P. 
Public Safety, Committee 'of, 

35, 159. 
Publication of debates, 117B, 

575. 



Rambouillet, decree, 77G, 396. 
Re-election of Consul by S«?n- 

ate, 66B, 324. 
Regent of France, declaration 

of, 30 A, 145. 
Rejected decrees, the, 17, 97. 
Religion, convention and, 29, 
lo3-il39; organic act upon, 
291, 140. 
Religious freedom, 29D, 136, 
Religious policy, decree upon, 

29A, 134. 
Reorganization, of administra- 
tive system, 60, 283; of army, 
128, 618; of Germany, 69, 339; 
of judicial system, 9, 34 and 
61., 288; of local government, 
7, 24 and 127, 612; of religion, 
64, 296. 
Replies and responses, of 
Chamber of Deputies, 103B, 
492; King's acceptance of 
constitution, 16, 96; of King, 
1Q3C, 493; of Sardinia, 116B, 
568. 
Republic. 

The first, transition to, 27, 
128-129; unity and indivis- 
ibility of, 27E, 129. 
The second, constitution of, 
110, 522; declaration upon, 
109, 522; proclamation of, 
107C, 516. 
The third, constitutional laws 
and amendments of, 133, 
633-639; establishment of, 
132, 631-632; relations with 
papacy, 136, 652. 



Term, use of, 83, 424. 
Republican calendar, 44, 191. 
Restoration monarchy, transi- 
tion to, 90, 443; press laws 
and ordinances of, 101, 485. 
Revolution, July, 104, 495- 
Revolutionary committees, 33, 

157. 
Revolutionary decrees, the 

three, 20, 104. 
Revolutionary government, 43, 

189. 

Revolutionary tribunal, 32, 151. 

Rhine, confederation of. See 

Confederation of the Rhine. 

Rights of man and citizen, 

declaration of, 5, 15. 
Rivet law, 124B, 604. 
Robespierre's proposed declar- 
ation of rights, 36, 160. 
Royal session, 3, 3. 
Russia. 

Treaties and conventions, al- 
liance against France, 100, 
482; alliance against Na- 
poleon, 97, 469; alliance 
with Great Britain, 73, 372; 
Chaumont, 89, 440; Con- 
gress of Paris, 115, 560; Er- 
furt convention, 82, 421; 
Paris (1814), 91, 451; Paris 
(1815), 99, 479; with France 
(1807), 79A, 405; with 
France (secret, 1807), 79B, 
409. 



St. Ouen, declaration, 92, 455. 
Sardinia, reply to Austria, 

116B, 568. 
STenatus-consultum. 
Amendments, upon (1866), 

117D, 577. 
Budget, upon (Dec. 31, 1861), 

117C, 576. 
Constitution of Tear X 

( 1802), 66E, 327. 
Constitution of Year XII 

(1804), 71, 343. 
Debates, upon (Feb. 2, 1861), 
117B, 575. 



670 



INDEX 



Empire, upon (1852), 114D, 
559. 

Of May 21, 1870, 117H, 5S1. 

Of Sept. 8, 1869, 117G, 579. 

Organic, annexing Holland 
and North Germany, 84D, 
430; annexing papal states, 
84B, 426. 

Powers of Senate, upon (1867) 
117F, 579. 

Suppressing Tribunate (1807) 
80, 417. 
Septennate, law, 131, 630. 
Senate. 

Consulate and First Empire, 
Act of, 90, 444; proposed 
constitution, 90E, 446; re- 
election of Napoleon Bona- 
parte, 66B, 324. 

Organization of (1875), 133A, 
633. 

Second Empire, abolished, 

122c, 596; senatus-consul- 

tum on powers of, 117F, 

579. 

Simon, letter to MacMahon, 

134B, 641. 
Sixteenth of May crisis, 134, 

640. 
Slaverj^ decree upon (1794), 

46, 204; decree upon (1848), 

1071, 520; in colonies re-es- 
tablished, 68, 339. 
Socialist program, 135, 649. 
Sovereignty, liberty and, 28B, 

130. 
Spain. 

Joseph Bonaparte King, 81 C, 
421. 

Treaties and conventions, 
Fontainobleau, 81A, 418; 
with France (1803), 70, 
342; with France (1808), 
81B, 420. 
Spanish monarchy, overthrow 

of, 81, 418. 
Speeches, of King, 103A, 491; 

of Prince -President, 114A, 

553. (See also Address, Mes- 
sage.) 



States-general, royal session 
• of, 3, 3. 
Supreme Being, worship of, 

29E, 137. 
Suspects, law of, 41, 185. 

Target, declaration, 129D, 627. 
Tennis Court, 2, 2. 
Thierg, government of, 124, 603- 
606; Orleanist manifesto of, 
104D, 502; overthrow of," 129, 
622. 
Tilsit, treaties, 79, 405-415. 
Tolentino, treaty of, 52B. 257. 
Transition, to the Republic, 27, 
128-129; to the Restoration 
monarchy, 90, 443-450. 
Treaties. 
Alliance against France, 100, 

482. 
Alliance against Napoleon, 

97, 469. 
Amiens, 63, 294. 
Basle, 48A, 206. 
Benedetti (proposed), 120. 

591. 
Campo Formio, 55, 261. 
Chaumont, 89, 440. 
Establishing confederation, 

78A, 398. 
Fontainebleau, 90G, 450. 
Great Britain and Russia, 73, 

372. 
Hague. 49, 209. 
Holland, with, 76, 381. 
Holland, with, 84C, 42S. 
Luneville, 62, 290. 
Paris (1814), 91, 451. 
Paris (1815),. 99, 479. 
Paris (1856), 115A, 561. 
Pope, with the (1796), 52A, 

255. 
Pope, with the (1797), 52B, 

257. 
Pressburg, 74, 375. 
Spain, with, 70, 342. 
Tilsit, 79, 405-415; with Prus- 
sia (1807), 79C, 411; with 
Prussia (1808), 79D, 415; 
with Russia, 79A, 40'5; with 



INDEX 



671 



Russia, 79B, 409; Turin, 
116G, 573; VersaiUes, 125, 
607; Vienna, 85, 4S0; Zu- 
rich, 116F, 572. (See also 
Conventions.) 

Tribunate, declaration, 65A, 
324; suppression, 80, 417. 

Turin, treaty, 116G, 573. 

University, Imperial, 65C, 314. 

Varennes. See King's Flight. 
Vedennes, address, 114B, 556. 



Ventavon, project, 132B, 631. 
Versailles, treaty, 125, 607.* 
Vienna, treaty, 85, 430. 
Villafranca, armistice, 116E, 
571. 



Wallon, amendment, 132D, 632. 
White Flag letter, 130, 627. 
AVorkingmen, declaration, 107B, 

516. 
Workshops, national, 107D, 

517. 
Zurich, treaty, 116F, 572. 



SEP 14 1904 



